Before They Were Pirates
by Saravi Boo
Summary: We've seen flashbacks of most of the Strawhat crew when they were children, but what came before those flashbacks? What brought each child to that pivotal moment that set them on the path on which Luffy found them? What shaped them into the collection of misfits and outcasts that would one day become a family? No ships.
1. Chapter One: Luffy

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Note: New story! Yay! Actually this is a collection of short stories. There is one for each of the Strawhat pirates and maybe one with all of them at the end. These stories are intended to fill in the blank time that came before the childhood flashbacks that Oda has shown us, because I was curious what might have shaped each child before those pivotal moments that we've seen. For those waiting on my next update to Sandstorms and Falling Leaves, it is in the works. I've just been swamped with One Piece plot bunnies that must be set free before I can think about Naruto without him coming out piratey. Hehehe. Please be patient with me. Okay, please review and let me know what you think of this.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. That's probably a good thing because I don't want a bunch of crazy pirates chasing me down to get it. I'd make a lousy Pirate er..Queen, I suppose. On with the fic!

Chapter One - Luffy: Before Shanks

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><p>Luffy was seated on his special seat; leaning back against one of the spikes of Sunny's mane and watching the birds fly overhead with half a thought as to how edible they might be, when a voice distracted him.<p>

"Captain-san?"

"Robin?" He blinked and turned his head, at an angle only a rubber person or an owl could manage, in order to look at the archeologist.

The dark haired woman smiled lightly up at him, clutching a notebook and a pen in her hands. "I am attempting to record the crew's history."

Luffy blinked at that, not really seeing the point of talking about things that were in the past; but history was important to Robin so he hopped down to perch on the railing near her. "Okay."

"I was wondering if I could perhaps ask you some questions. There is a great deal I already know about you but some gaps remain and I'd like to know the whole story."

Luffy nodded. "What do you want to know?" He asked with a shrug. It wasn't like anything in his past was a secret, not to his nakama at least.

The elegant woman smiled and bloomed a couple extra arms from her torso to hold her notebook open as she prepared to write. "Well, the whole world now knows who your father is and we have had the honor of meeting your grandfather..." She politely ignored the shudder that ran through her captain at the mention of Garp. "However, I've never heard you mention your mother. Do you know anything about her at all?"

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><p>"Is it really the only way?" Mommy asked; clutching his hand so tightly that three year old Luffy was beginning to wonder if fingers could actually be squeezed off.<p>

He didn't pull away though, because Mommy had tears rolling down her face and the man in the hood was talking about taking him away from her and that didn't sound good at all. Luffy loved his Mommy. She smelled nice, like soap and grass, and she played with him and sang him to sleep at night and knew how to cook all his favorite foods. The man in the hood with the weird tattoos didn't look like he'd do any of those things.

"He's not safe here any longer." The man was saying sadly. "I'm sorry. I thought I'd hidden you well enough but somehow they've found out."

"But how can you trust him? What if he was the one who told them..." Mommy began hesitantly.

"No." The man cut her off sharply and Luffy seriously considered kicking him in the shins until he realized he'd have to let go of Mommy's hand to do it. He settled for sticking out his tongue which only served to make the man raise an eyebrow at him with an almost amused expression. "I don't agree with him on much, but family comes before politics."

"You really think he can keep Luffy safe?" Mommy sighed and knelt down to look into the little boy's inquisitive eyes, sadness pouring from her even as she tried to smile for his sake.

"I think he's the only chance we have." Hood man said carefully. "Family is important to him. He won't turn Luffy in. I'm sure of that."

Mommy narrowed her eyes at that answer. "Hmph. After the stories you've told me about your childhood, I'm not sure the idea of that man actually raising my son is any better than Luffy being on the run with us." She sighed before pulling Luffy into a hug as she continued. "Isn't there anyone else you trust?"

"It has to be someone without any part in the resistance or the government will find him." He shook his head. "Please, you know I'm right."

"I...I know...it's just..."

Further words were cut off as someone knocked on the door to the small house. "Open up!" A harsh voice ordered. "We have orders to search the premises!"

Mommy's eyes went wide and she gave Luffy one last squeeze before she pulled back and smiled at him, despite the frightened look in her eyes. She began to whisper to him hurriedly as the decision was taken out of her hands. "Luffy, sweetheart. This man is your daddy and he is going to take you to stay with your Grandpa for a while. I need you to go with him and do whatever he says, right now. Okay?"

"But, I don't wanna..." The little boy whined, feeling tears welling up in his own eyes as he looked from one adult to the other.

The knocking came again and both adults jumped, only serving to make the child more nervous.

"Please." Mommy said shakily. "Promise me you'll be a good boy for your daddy and I'll let you go out through the secret passage."

Large eyes lit up. "Secret?" He said, unsure of the other word.

Mommy nodded and smiled shakily as she took him by the hand and hurried over to pull back the carpet in the living room, revealing a door. "See? It'll be like an adventure, but in order to go on this adventure you have to be very brave and very quiet until your daddy says it's okay to talk. You understand?"

"Cool!" The little boy bounced, most of his worry pushed away by the prospect of a real adventure like the ones in his bedtime stories. He nodded seriously to the instructions but hesitated, as the man his mommy claimed was his daddy climbed down into the newly opened hole in the floor and reached back up for him. "Can't you come with us?" He asked innocently. "Adventures are more fun with more people."

Mommy hugged him tight for a moment and then pressed him into the hooded man's arms. "No sweetie. Mommy has to go answer the door. I love you. Be good."

Luffy started to protest as the wooden door was shut down on top of them and the pair was plunged into darkness, but a calloused hand covered his mouth.

"Hush, Luffy." The man whispered. "Remember what your mother told you. You have to be quiet until I tell you it's safe, okay?"

Luffy frowned and bit down on the hand over his mouth.

The man choked off a yelp and unceremoniously dropped the child the last few feet to the bottom of the ladder.

Luffy landed hard on his bottom and scrunched up his face as he fought the urge to cry. Mommy had said this was an adventure and adventurers did not cry. Only babies cried. So he stood and crossed his arms as he waited for the hooded man to climb down the rest of the ladder and join him.

The tunnel was dark but the man took his hand and led him easily through the rough hewn passageway until they came to the exit in a cave not far from town. Luffy was careful to stay quiet, even when gunshots echoed from behind them. Mommy had said that was one of the rules on this adventure and he wasn't gonna mess up, even if he never had been very good at being quiet.

They stepped out into the cave and the man scooped him up and turned away quickly so the boy wouldn't see the flames beginning to rise from the little house at the edge of town.

"You can talk now." The Daddy man offered awkwardly.

"When's Mommy gonna be done answering the door?" Luffy asked, as the restriction being lifted allowed a flood of held back words to flow out of him. "Is she gonna catch up to us later? I'm hungry! Is there gonna be a party on this adventure? Mommy's stories always have a party when the adventure is over."

The hooded man stiffened and started walking towards the other side of the island. "Our adventure isn't over yet." He said carefully after a few moments. "Have you ever been on a ship, Luffy?"

The child's eyes lit up in joy at the prospect but he still strained to look back as he answered. "A real ship?! Really!? Will Mommy meet us there?"

Sighing, the man stopped to speak to the curious child eye to eye. "Your mommy had to send you away with me to keep you safe, Luffy. I'm afraid you won't be able to see her again."

"But..." The child began to protest, his little face scrunched in dismay.

"Don't worry. I'm taking you to stay with your Grandfather. He won't let anyone else hurt you." The man promised with a forced smile. "Now, we need to keep moving."

Little Luffy swallowed hard but nodded. He would be brave like Mommy told him to. He would be the bravest boy ever and someday he'd find a way to get back to his mommy and he'd protect her so they'd both be safe and she'd never have to send him away again.

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><p>It had taken him years to understand what had happened to his mother that night, what those gunshots had meant. It had taken even longer, until an afternoon in Water 7 actually, for him to understand why it had happened at all.<p>

"Luffy-san?" Robin's soft voice cut through the memories and Luffy blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, perhaps I should not have pried. If the subject is uncomfortable for you..."

Luffy shook his head and grinned to show her he was okay. "It's fine, Robin." He waved her concerns away, lowering his head so his hat could hide the suspicious shine to his eyes as he answered her question. "My mother was a brave adventurer. One day she told me I had to be brave too and sent me to live with Gramps. Then, she went on an adventure without me. Kinda like...Ace did." He forced the words out past the lump that rose in his throat.

Robin paled in understanding. "I'm sor..."

"It's fine." The sad grin was back as he cut her off. "She used to make the best meat pies, you know?" His gaze was far away as he remembered the happier moments his young mind had held onto. "I wonder if Sanji can make meat pies?"

Robin smiled back and closed her notebook. "I'll go ask him for you." She offered, turning away so the rubber teen wouldn't see her smile falter and her eyes shine with tears.

"Really? Thanks, Robin!" Luffy bounced up on his feet on the railing, the previous topic apparently set aside at the prospect of meat.

The archeologist waved over her shoulder and wandered toward the galley. She had a lovestruck cook to talk to.

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><p>They had traditional East Blue style meat pies for dinner that night and Robin was fairly certain she was the only one who noticed that their gluttonous captain actually stared at his for a long moment before he devoured it gleefully. Then he went after everyone else's portion with equal gusto. She let him have half of hers while she distracted Sanji by asking for fresh coffee. Luffy shot her a rubbery grin in response and she smiled back. It was an apology of sorts though she had no doubt it her captain would insist it wasn't needed.<p>

That evening, she laid the notebook aside in a desk drawer and closed it firmly; deciding some things were best left in the past.

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><p>Author's Note: Well, I hope you liked it. Please review and let me know what you think. I know some of the characters may seem a bit different but I tried to base them off of how they were in the earliest flashbacks we've seen. Luffy was sort of determined but angry until Shanks taught him that it wasn't worth getting mad over the little things. That seems to be when Luffy adopted his happy-go-lucky attitude. I wanted to know what might have made Luffy such a serious little kid before that point and I wanted to consider what his mother may have been like. This is what came out of my head as a result. I'd love to know what you think of it. Next Chapter - Zoro: Before the Promise. In which we find out how a wild looking little boy came to be wandering around alone and what made him decide to challenge a dojo?<p> 


	2. Chapter Two: Zoro

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Note: Okay folks. Here's Zoro's chapter. It's about twice as long as Luffy's. I'm better at writing Zoro. Hehehe. These will be posted sort of in the order that Luffy encounters his crew, rather than when they join him. The exception to this is Robin. I will put her chapter after Chopper's because when they met her she wasn't exactly on the short list to join them. Hehehe. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Please review and let me know what you think. On with the fic!

Chapter Two - Zoro: Before the Promise

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><p>The idiot cook was taking forever to haggle down the prices at the butcher they were currently buying from. Zoro rolled his eye as a woman walked by and the blonde seemed to forget what he was doing entirely.<p>

The green haired swordsman had had just about hit the limits of his patience with the love cook and he weighed his options. The sea witch had ordered him to help the cook resupply the ship, with the usual threats of raising his debt if he didn't comply. Zoro snorted. It wasn't like he had any delusions that he would ever been able to pay the crazy navigator back at this point anyway, so the threat was really not as effective as he let the woman think it was.

As he saw it, he had two choices. He could stay and deal with the curly-browed moron all day...or he could go back to the ship and do some training. Then maybe a nap. He yawned at the thought.

Really it wasn't a difficult choice at all. He glanced at the blonde and noted the man was back to arguing with the shopkeeper. Then the one eyed swordsman turned and walked away.

As Zoro was walking, a child darted across his path. The boy was thin, wearing grubby clothes at least two sizes too large and he was clutching a loaf of bread like it was the greatest treasure he had ever held. The sight wasn't entirely uncommon but it caused a twisting in the stoic man's guts, as it always did.

"Stop!" A voice called out sharply. "Thief!" A portly man chased after the boy but was stopped by the sheathe of a white hilted katana. The man glared at Zoro for a second before he registered just how very imposing this roadblock actually was.

"Let him go." The swordsman ordered.

"But, that's the second time this week!" The man protested weakly.

Zoro narrowed his eye. "You look like you eat more than twice a week." He pointed out darkly.

The portly man paled a bit and looked helplessly around, but the street urchin had long since vanished with his prize. "Fine." He huffed before turning to return to his shop with his bruised ego and no bread.

Zoro returned Wado to his belt and started walking again.

A dirty face in an alley caught his attention and he turned to regard the boy.

"Thanks, Mister." The child smiled nervously.

"Yeah. Don't sweat it, kid." The green haired man replied gruffly. "Might want to leave that shop alone for a while though. Check the dumpsters behind restaurants before you steal something. It's safer."

The boy seemed a bit startled by the advice but he nodded after a few moments.

Zoro started walking again, throwing a hand up in a casual wave. "Good luck, kid." He offered in farewell.

The swordsman didn't have to look back to know the child had likely already vanished into the alley. He didn't have to imagine that life.

He kept walking aimlessly, as memories that hadn't bothered him in years bubbled to the forefront of his mind.

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><p>Five year old Zoro didn't remember having parents, though he knew everybody did at some point. He wasn't even sure they had named him Zoro but that's what everyone called him so it was as good a name as any. He'd lived on the street for as long as his young mind could remember and for the most part he was fine with that.<p>

When he was really little, a couple of older street kids had found him and taken him under their protection. Koto and Mako were twins and they were the much older and wiser age of eight when they found him, shivering behind the trash cans outside a noodle shop. They were the only reason he had any idea how old he was, since they thought everyone needed a birthday and they had guessed one for him. They had taught him how to beg (which he didn't like much), how to steal (which he was better at but still didn't enjoy), who to run from (which was basically the marines and anyone who tried to get him to go home with them), and how to fight (which he actually liked quite a lot). Then the pair had turned him loose to fend for himself, because they had to take care of each other already and he was another mouth they really couldn't feed. Zoro had been four then and they had assured him that they were only that old when they lost their parents and he would be fine as long as he remembered what they had taught him.

Zoro soon had his own little nest in an alley, with a real wooden roof to keep the rain off and access to several decent restaurants nearby that threw out a lot of leftovers. Scrounging was better than begging or stealing, in his mind. That way he could take care of himself and it wasn't hurting anybody.

Clothes were another matter though. The shoes Koto had handed down to him, because they were too small for her, had fallen apart ages ago and he hadn't managed to find anything good to replace them. That wasn't so bad, after a while his feet stopped hurting and he figured shoes were pretty useless after all the trouble he had building up that thick skin. He needed a new pair of pants though, and a shirt too really. His were too small and had more holes then he could count, which admittedly wasn't very high. It was going to start getting cold soon too.

Zoro scowled as he stuck his hand through one of the holes in his sleeve. People didn't throw out clothes the way they did food. He'd have to steal new ones, there was no avoiding it. The little urchin sighed and headed out, crossing to a different part of town where there were clothing shops and nicer houses.

He spotted some clothes that looked his size in a shop window and slipped in behind a large woman and her two children, ducking into the center of a round rack of clothing to stay out of sight of the shopkeeper. He explored the clothes around him until he found a long sleeved green shirt and pants to match. They looked pretty sturdy and just a bit larger than his size. Tugging them from their hanger, he clutched them to his chest and waited until he heard the big lady talking to the shopkeeper. Then he made a dash for the door.

"Stop! Hey You! Thief!" The angry voice behind him as he burst out onto the sidewalk let him know he hadn't gone unnoticed as he had hoped.

A shrill whistle a moment later sent his stomach plummeting to his toes as the uproar attracted a nearby marine.

Without even bothering to look around, Zoro darted across the street, desperate to escape the pursuit. He had only a second to register the sound of horses panicking and someone shouting before a spike of pain shot through his head and everything went black.

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><p>Zoro drifted on clouds. Voices would drift with him sometimes, speaking words he didn't know the meaning of but the voices didn't sound happy about them so he guessed they weren't good. Words like trauma and coma and lasting effects. The voices never stayed around for long and sometimes the blackness would surge up and pull him under just as he was about to break the surface of the clouds. He decided he didn't like that much but he didn't seem to have any say in the situation.<p>

The first thing he noticed, when the clouds finally decided to let him go, was the ceiling. It wasn't the piece of rusty metal over Koto and Mako's shack or his own painstakingly gathered planks. It was white and clean and for a few moments he thought he was still in the clouds until he registered dimly that the softness under him was different from before. Zoro didn't remember ever sleeping in a bed, but he'd seen them and it only took him a minute to realize that's where he was. It didn't answer the question of where the bed was though.

He started to sit up in order to get a better look at his surroundings, but moving made the annoying blackness swirl in front of him and he had to stop before it dragged him back into the clouds. It had been hard enough getting out of them to begin with.

"Ah, you're awake!" A pleasant voice said from somewhere to the side of him and he slowly turned his head to see who it was.

He was happy that the careful movement didn't hurt as much as it did when he had moved fast, but that thought was washed away in suspicion as he spotted the smiling man standing in the doorway.

"How do you feel?" The man asked politely.

Zoro scowled and crossed his arms sullenly. "Who are you?" He asked instead of answering, though it was harder to get the words out than he expected it to be; like he had to pull them from his mind through a fog.

"Of course, how rude of me." The man nodded. "I am Doctor Roronoa Shen. Nice to finally meet you."

Zoro's scowl didn't lighten.

The man smiled and raised empty hands as he moved a few steps closer and began doing something to the side of the bed that raised the child up into something more like a sitting position without him actually having to move. "It's considered polite to introduce yourself in return." He pointed out calmly.

Zoro considered that for a long moment but he decided there was no harm in telling the man his name. He was probably already going to be arrested for stealing. "Zoro." He muttered sullenly.

"Ah good. You do remember your name at least." The man beamed while the boy looked at him like he was the one with brain damage. "Do you remember how you got here?"

Zoro thought back, reaching up to scratch his head and coming in contact with thick bandages instead of hair. That derailed his train of thought for a moment before he remembered running and...

"There was...a horse?" He frowned, unsure of the recollection.

"Very good, no major memory loss." Doctor Shen seemed relieved.

All the questions and the bandages were starting to really bother Zoro, so he decided it was his turn to do the asking. "Why am I here? This doesn't look like jail."

"Jail?" The man blinked before chuckling. "No, of course not. The shopkeeper saw what happened and decided not to press charges. He said, if you survived, that was punishment enough. He even let you keep the clothes."

Zoro blinked and glanced down in shock, getting a glimpse of the very clothes he had stolen on his thin frame before his head swam from the careless motion and he had to scrunch his eyes shut to stop the world from spinning. He felt warm hands on his shoulders, keeping him from falling over as he struggled to keep the blackness from dragging him back under.

"Please be careful." The doctor was admonishing him gently. "You were kicked in the head by that horse. You've been unconscious for almost a week now. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to wake up at all."

Zoro managed to open his eyes and blink at the man who was now well into his personal space but the boy didn't trust his own muscles to hold him up as they seemed to have turned to sludge while he was sleeping. His mind went blank in shock as he tried to process how he'd lost a whole week. Someone would have taken over his alley by now and it was going to be a pain getting it back. He felt tears building in his eyes but swallowed the urge to let them out. They didn't help anything and he wasn't going to show weakness like that to some grown up stranger, no matter how nice he seemed. Koto had warned him that a lot of the really bad people seem nice at first.

Zoro glared at the hands on his arms; going tense under the gentle grip at the thought.

Doctor Shen carefully leaned him back against the pillow before the man let go and took a step back, hands raised as if dealing with a wild animal rather than a child.

"I'm not going to hurt you." The doctor promised seriously. "I've been trying to make you better. That's what doctors do, you know. Have you ever been to a doctor before?"

Zoro started to shake his head but thought better of it. "No."

"Well, doctors have to make a promise not to hurt our patients." The man explained slowly. "You are my patient, so I can assure you; you are perfectly safe here and I will do my best to help you. Understand?"

The boy eyed the man suspiciously, but he'd become a pretty good judge of character in his short years and he could spot a liar a mile away. "I understand." He responded finally though he didn't totally relax.

"Good. Now, you must be hungry. Do you think you can stay awake for a few minutes while I get you something to eat?"

Zoro's stomach answered for him at the mention of food and he blushed as he replied. "Yes."

The doctor was out the door in a moment and Zoro finally let himself relax back against the pillow. The guy seemed to be one of the rare good people but he wasn't about to let down his guard so easily. He was only staying until he could move around easily again and then he'd be back on his own. That was the way it was supposed to be.

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><p>The first time Zoro, tried getting out bed by himself, he ended up blacking out in a heap on the floor and Doctor Shen had fussed over him for long minutes. It felt strange to have someone worry about him and the child wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it.<p>

"What in the four blues were you trying to do?" The man asked once he was sure there had been no further damage caused by the fall.

Zoro blushed and looked down at his feet where they hung off the side of the bed. "Toilet." He mumbled sourly.

This brought the doctor out of the lecture he had been about to start and he sighed at the child's stubbornness. "I told you last time, just say something when you need to go. I'm right down the hall." The man explained gently for the third or fourth time. "Come on." Without waiting for the child to reach for him, because he'd quickly figured out that wasn't going to happen, the doctor scooped Zoro up and carried him across the room to the attached facility.

When the boy had finished his business, Shen carried him back to bed and tucked him in with a final warning. "I don't want you getting out of this bed by yourself for at least another week."

Zoro scowled and said nothing.

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><p>The next morning, Roronoa Shen woke up to the sound of something hitting the floor and muffled cursing that followed. He shook his head as he went to help his stubborn patient once again.<p>

By the end of the week, Zoro could walk short distances on his own; without his head swimming. He was thrilled when Doctor Shen informed him he should be okay to at least go to the bathroom by himself.

* * *

><p>Zoro blinked out of a nap and sat up slowly. He hadn't had need to exercise his new found freedom yet but the need had now become rather urgent. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and slid off as quickly as he dared. He took only a moment to catch his balance before walking slowly but deliberately to the door of the bathroom and opening it.<p>

Only to find himself staring out into the hallway. The child blinked in confusion, taking a few steps out into the open space just to be sure he wasn't seeing things. He turned around to go back into his room, pushing open the door he didn't remember closing...and found himself in a kitchen.

Zoro was feeling a little dizzy as he closed that door and tried another, thinking he may have walked further down the hall than he thought while pondering the mysteriously missing bathroom. This one led into a room lined with bookshelves. Doctor Shen was sitting at a desk in the center.

The man looked up in surprise as the door of his study opened to reveal his young guest looking decidedly distressed about something.

"Zoro? What's wrong?" He asked, rising to his feet and moving to the boy's side quickly.

Green eyes looked up at him with just a hint of fear. "I can't find the bathroom." The child admitted in a small voice; sounding for the first time like a frightened little boy rather than a recalcitrant street thug.

Warning bells went off in the doctor's mind but he smiled reassuringly and laid a hand on the child's shoulder to turn him in the right direction. "I'll show you where it is. It's a bit different when you're being carried, right?"

The excuse seemed to soothe the child's nerves a little. "Yeah." He replied shakily. "Really different."

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><p>The next time Zoro tried to find the bathroom, he ended up in the garden, the livingroom, and the study again. That's when Doctor Shen was forced to sit the boy down and have a serious talk with his charge.<p>

"Zoro, I think your injury may have affected your ability to navigate your surroundings."

The child looked at him blankly. "Huh?"

"I think that's why you can't seem to find your way around. Did you ever have problems like that before the accident?" The man asked gently.

Zoro gave it a bit of thought. "No." He finally said slowly.

"I can help you and maybe it will get better over time, but I should tell you that it could be permanent."

"What's that mean?" The boy asked, mulling the last word over in his head curiously.

Shen sighed, always hating to be the bearer of bad news for a patient; especially one so young. "It means you might always have this problem finding your way where you want to go." He explained in the simplest terms he could think of.

The boy frowned as he considered the new information but eventually shrugged it off. "It's okay." He announced with childlike innocence. "I don't have anywhere to go anyway."

Roronoa Shen blinked at the unexpected answer before a small chuckle bubbled up in his throat and he grinned at the boy who was fast becoming a fixture in his home. "True. You don't have to go anywhere, Zoro."

Zoro's eyes widened as the meaning in those words sank in. "Not ever?" He asked slowly.

"Not unless you want to." The young doctor nodded with a smile. "My home is yours."

"Home..." The green haired boy found himself blinking back tears at the offer of something he had never had before. "Okay."

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><p>Doctor Shen marked the bathroom door with a picture of flowers, which Zoro complained was girly. However, he soon learned that if he looked for the flowers before he got out of bed, and didn't let his eyes off of them until he had his hand on the door handle; he could make it to the bathroom every time he needed to without getting lost.<p>

Soon every door in the house had a different picture attached to it and Zoro could navigate the small home with little trouble.

The doctor started teaching him to read too, hoping street signs would help him with his problem out in the world, but the first time they went out shopping; the child still somehow ended up on the other side of town and was reluctantly brought back home by a harried looking marine.

"I've interrogated hardened criminals who were more cooperative." The man shook his head. "Took me two hours to get him to tell me his name." He chuckled. "And another hour to get him to tell me yours."

Doctor Shen thanked the man profusely and apologized on behalf of his sulking ward before showing the marine out and turning to Zoro with confused eyes. "I've been looking for you for hours." He explained in exasperated relief. "Why didn't you just tell them who you were staying with right away so they could bring you home?"

Zoro suddenly found the nearby doorway, with its picture of a sailboat, very interesting. "Can't trust the marines." He huffed sourly. "They'll lock you up, or make you join them if you're old enough." The eyes finally flicked back to the older man nervously. "I didn't want them to take you away."

Roronoa Shen rubbed the bridge of his nose to ward off the headache he'd been fighting since he'd turned around in the market to find no sign of unusual green hair in sight. "They won't bother me." He explained with a sigh. "Next time, just tell them my name so I don't have to worry for so long, okay?"

"Okay." The expression was doubtful.

"Promise me, Zoro. Next time you get lost and a marine asks who you are, answer right away."

The little boy scowled at that. Living on the street, promises were serious; when all you had to your name was your word and your reputation. Finally he nodded reluctantly. "I promise." He said slowly.

"Good." Doctor Shen seemed like a weight had lifted from his shoulders and he offered the child a small smile. "Are you hungry? I'll race you to the kitchen."

Zoro grinned and headed as fast as he dared, towards the hallway, which was the sailboat door he had just been looking at. Finding the kitchen door once he got there was a bit harder but he finally spotted the picture of cherry trees and managed to get there with only one moment of hesitation halfway; when he glanced around for the older man and lost sight of his goal for a few seconds. He entered the cozy room at last and flopped into his chair at the table with a glare at the chuckling adult.

"You cheated." He accused sourly.

The older man raised an eyebrow. "Really? How?"

Zoro looked flustered for a minute before he pressed on. "You moved the kitchen when I wasn't looking." He finally insisted.

"Ah, sorry. I'll be sure to warn you next time I rearrange the rooms." Shen snorted and ruffled the green hair indulgently.

Zoro scrunched into his seat to escape the hand, until he realized the Doctor wasn't going to hit him and relaxed a bit, allowing the gesture for just a few moments before he brushed it away uncomfortably.

* * *

><p>Zoro woke up to the sound of someone banging on the door of the small house. He blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust to the dark as he heard Doctor Shen answer the door.<p>

Voices drifted from the hallway. "He's been shot, Doc." A gruff voice was explained angrily. "You have to fix it!"

"I'll do my best, but this wound..."

"No! He's my brother! You save him or you die with him. Got it?!"

Zoro paled at that and slid silently from his bed. It was too dark to see his pictures so he trailed his hand along the wall the way the doctor had taught him to do in unfamiliar places. He couldn't get turned around if he kept the same hand on the wall the whole time. His fingers caught on a doorframe and he opened it a crack to reveal the shadowy outline of the bathroom. Closing it as quietly as he could, he continued around the edge of the room until he found another door and this time when he pulled it carefully open, he was rewarded with the spill of light from the hallway.

The child heard muffled voices and followed them down the hall to the doctor's surgery room; a room the boy had never had reason to enter before.

He pushed the door open a tiny crack, just as the voices rose to an alarming decibel.

"What do you mean by that!?"

Zoro could just see Doctor Shen, shaking his head and raising his bloodied hands as he backed away from the much larger man. "I'm sorry, Sir." He said quickly. "The bullet hit an artery and he lost far too much blood before I got to him. There's nothing I can do. He's gone."

"NO! You let him DIE!" The man roared, grabbing the doctor by the throat and slamming him against the wall.

Zoro gasped and pushed open the door, intending to do something to stop the big man from hurting his guardian. "Leave him alone!" He screamed as he threw himself against the larger man, kicking and punching with all his strength.

The man looked down in shocked anger. "What the..." He backhanded the child away as easily as he might have swatted a fly.

"No!" Roronoa Shen choked out in alarm as the boy was flung into a nearby shelf. "Zoro! Run!" As the boy got shakily to his feet, the doctor turned his pleas on his captor. "Please, leave the boy alone. I don't care what you do to me but he's got nothing to do with it."

The man grinned wickedly, squeezing and cutting off further attempts the smaller man made to speak. "He can tell the marines what I look like. That's enough."

The young doctor's eyes widened and he redoubled his struggles, managing to break loose just enough to gasp out one final time. "Zoro, run!"

Then there was a sickening crack and the larger man dropped Shen. Zoro watched him fall numbly; noticing how he crumpled, like the rag doll Koto had made for herself once, as he landed. The large man started to turn towards the frozen boy.

'Zoro, run!' The words seemed to echo in his mind again and the six year old was moving before he even registered what he was doing.

Out of the room that smelled like medicine and blood and cleaning chemicals. Out of the house that had been his first home.

Zoro ran until his lungs felt like they'd burst if he took another step, and then he kept running anyway. When he finally stopped, he had no idea where he was. It didn't matter much though. He had nowhere left to go.

* * *

><p>Zoro had been on his own again for several months. He'd given up on staying in one place. He never could find his way back to where he left anything. He traveled light and managed to survive on the food he found in dumpsters or left on tables at outdoor restaurants.<p>

One day, he wandered into a town in the middle of a festival and grinned. Festivals meant lots of food; lots of wasted food. He managed to scavenge a fair amount without getting caught digging through the trash and then set out to see what the festival had to offer a little boy with no money.

As he walked, he was drawn to a play being put on in a large amphitheater at the edge of town. He watched the story in interest as one of the actor's challenged the other for some sort of sign that was apparently important. The challenger lost and then had to stay at the school, or 'dojo' he learned as the story went on, until he could beat the guy. Then a bunch of bandits came and the two men were able to fight them all off. Watching the flashing swords and seeing them fight off such overwhelming odds made something in Zoro's heart light up in a way it hadn't since Doctor Shen had died.

* * *

><p>"Hey kid!" A stern voice startled the child and he realized he'd dozed off on the bench after the play had ended.<p>

He looked up at a familiar white uniform and sat up quickly, ready to run.

"Where are your parents?" The man asked with something that was probably supposed to be a disarming smile but he was missing a few too many teeth for it to look pleasant at all. "What's your name?"

Zoro felt a twinge of pain at the question he been avoiding for months but answered anyway with a forced smirk. He had promised. "My name's Roronoa Zoro." He said easily, the name flowing from his tongue as if it had always belonged there. "I gotta go." With that, he was off and running, ignoring the man's shouts. He had a dojo to look for.

* * *

><p>Zoro was sitting in a bar, in a town that seemed vaguely familiar to him but he gave it little thought. Such things hadn't mattered to him since he was six. Now he was a man, old enough to leave the dojo and make good on his promise to Kuina. Unfortunately, he was having trouble finding a ship willing to take him on as a passenger, since he had no money and little knowledge of sailing.<p>

A gruff voice cut through his musings and this one was familiar in a way that he actually paid attention to. After all, he could still hear it sometimes, when he allowed himself time to reflect on such things...or in the nightmares that had grown rare over the years but never went away completely.

"Hehehe." The man was laughing as he brandished a paper for the other three men at his table to admire. "Thirty thousand beris!" He grinned. "Look at that! You lot aren't worth half that all added together!" He laughed again.

Zoro had wandered over and plucked the paper from the man's hand easily. It was a bounty poster, with the man's face clearly pictured on it. It was a face Zoro already knew, though the name printed beneath it was new to him.

The large man turned to face him with a scowl. "Hey kid! Who do you think you are?" He growled as he stood and made a grab for the paper.

One of Zoro's katanas was at the man's throat before the guy could get anywhere near touching him, thoguh the swordsman's eyes remained glued to the bounty poster for the moment. Then he turned a wicked looking grin at the startled man. "Roronoa Zoro." He answered, eyes glinting with malice as the large man paled at the name.

Wide eyes took in the sight of distinctive green hair and eyes that simmered with the promise of revenge. "You..." Oh yes, he remembered the boy.

Zoro's grin became positively demonic. "This says dead or alive. You have a preference?" He asked flatly.

The big man reached for his gun as his friends grabbed for weapons as well.

The first four bounties Roronoa Zoro turned in were decidedly more dead than alive. The clerk that had paid him had been shocked and a little frightened when the teen had dragged in the four bodies, tied together at the ankles with a piece of rope. He had murmured against evil spirits as he took in the dead look in the swordsman's eyes.

The next day, Zoro got on a boat going somewhere he didn't bother learning the name of and never looked back.

* * *

><p>"How did you manage to cross the whole town and walk into the freaking marine base by accident?!" Sanji shouted over the sound of clashing steel and bullets flying as the pair fought to reach the exit of the small base. "I only looked away from you for a minute, Marimo idiot!"<p>

Zoro grimaced around the katana in his teeth as he fended off half a dozen armed marines before he could answer. "I was just heading back to the ship." He explained stiffly. "Not my fault they freaking moved it."

Sanji's scowled deepened and he kicked his current foe halfway through a wall in frustration. "Nobody moved the ship, Moss for brains! It was half a block from where I saw you last!"

Zoro scowled and launched a tatsumaki that took out nearly half the enemies he was facing and allowed him a second to glare at the irate cook.

Sanji didn't give the man time to reply. "What's wrong with you?! You have no sense of direction at all! Do you have some kind of brain damage or something, Marimo moron?! Your mother dropped you on your stupid green head when you were..." The cook ranted until he was forced to throw up a foot to deflect one of his nakama's swords and he was stunned into silence by the look on Zoro's face.

He had seen the man angry plenty of times. He had even had that fury directed at him regularly. However, this wasn't the swordsman's normal irritation over his teasing. Zoro's good eye was closed and his jaw was tense even though he had sheathed his third katana at some point before he launched the sudden attack.

"Shut. Up." The swordsman bit out flatly. Zoro wouldn't normally have cared what the stupid cook said but at the moment, after seeing that kid, the memories were a little too close to the surface and he needed the other man to stop before he did something he'd regret later. He wasn't about to admit that yes, he did have brain damage. Certainly not to the curlybrowed idiot. He'd always just taken the teasing and fussing over his tendency to get turned around as a sort of training, but not now.

Right now, thinking of the old injury made him think of a kind man who had helped him when he had nothing to offer in return. A man who had been almost like a parent to him for a brief time. A man who hadn't deserved to die. The memories ached like an old wound and he needed them to stop; to go away until he could meditate on them and regain his usual control.

The lack of anger in the swordsman's tone was almost as alarming to the chef as the pained look that flashed through the other man's green eye as he opened it to see if he had made his point.

Sanji could only nod numbly, realizing that somehow, whatever he had said had gone too far. He had struck a nerve that was best left alone. At least when they were still surrounded by a dozen now very confused and frightened marines.

They had a fight to finish and then he had to take his navigationally challenged nakama home to the Sunny. Maybe then he could get some answers.

Zoro's pained expression flashed through his mind and he frowned as he kicked four marines with a spinning handstand before regaining his feet. He glanced over to see Zoro fighting almost mechanically through the last of the marines on his side; the man's gaze distant even as he defeated the trained soldiers with ease.

The chain smoking cook began to think maybe he shouldn't pry, not this time. Maybe there were some things he didn't really want to know.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Zoro's chapter is SUPER long! Hehehe. I wanted to explain a lot of his personality traits with this and he's actually pretty complicated under that tough facade. Ah, well I hope you all enjoyed it. I have more ideas based on this that I may write out more fully at some point but for now the story stands alone. I hope Zoro was in character. Please review and let me know if you would be interested in seeing that, as well as what you think of this story. Thanks! Next Chapter: Nami. I'll just let that one surprise you all. I don't want to spoil it.<p> 


	3. Chapter Three: Nami

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Note: Nami's chapter is a bit different since we've actually seen her as an infant. This piece is actually more about how Nojiko came to be wandering around with a baby in the ruins where Bellemere found them. It's also pretty short compared to the other two pieces. Still, I hope you enjoy it. Please review and let me know.

Chapter Three- Nami: Before Bellemere

* * *

><p>Nojiko wasn't sure how long she hid in the empty rain barrel behind her house. Mommy had grabbed her and put her in it when the first alarms sounded. Mommy had made her promise to be very quiet and not to come out until she heard the all clear bells.<p>

Nojiko was a good girl and she'd waited a long time. She'd been as quiet as a mouse; even when she could hear screaming outside her barrel, even when she'd heard the crack of gunfire and smelled smoke. She did just what Mommy told her to do, but the bells didn't ring and it got really quiet after a while. Eventually, even a good little girl will let curiosity get the better of her and that's just what Nojiko finally did.

Slowly, she stood and lifted the lid of her little shelter, just an inch or two so she could peep out. The wooden lid fell from suddenly numb fingers and clattered to the ground but that didn't matter.

No one was around to hear it.

Wide eyes filled with tears as the panicked little girl struggled to get out of the barrel. She had to get out and find Mommy. Her mommy couldn't be in the house anymore because the house was on fire and Mommy always told her not to get to close to the fire because it would hurt her.

Finally, the barrel toppled with a resounding crash in the strangely still neighborhood, a neighborhood that had bustled with life only that morning, and Nojiko scrambled free.

"Mommy?" She cried out softly but there was no answer. "Mommy?!" She tried again louder. Mommy wouldn't have left her alone.

The little girl moved on through the destruction, calling out for her mother with increasing desperation. Why wouldn't Mommy answer her?

She shied away from the too still bodies she passed as she drifted down the street, eventually falling silent. Numb with shock and grief.

Then she spotted a tiny bit of movement up ahead and Nojiko felt herself moving toward it like a moth to a flame. The prospect of anyone else being with her, anyone being alive in this dead village, brought a surge of almost painful hope to her heart.

As she got near, she could see a woman with red hair, curled up tightly in a ball. Nojiko stopped in confusion as she realized the woman was dead, like everyone else she had seen, and her hopes sank. Had she only imagined that flicker of motion?

Just as she was about to turn away, she heard a small noise and the flash of movement was back. Nojiko crept forward and hesitantly laid a hand on the lady's shoulder. The body toppled to the side; the bloodied arms falling away to reveal a cloth bundle hidden under the red haired woman's body.

The bundle squirmed and Nojiko realized that the movement she had seen before was a tiny foot that had worked its way out from beneath the fallen woman, kicking as its attached person wiggled.

The little girl reached out and picked up the bundle carefully. Mommy had never let her hold a real baby before. She'd said they were fraggles or something like that, and you had to be really careful not to hurt them. Still, Nojiko couldn't leave the baby behind. There was no grownup to come to the rescue now. She had to be the big girl and help this little baby. That was good right? Mommy would like for her to do that.

Nojiko finally pushed back the blanket to see the face of the infant she had just rescued and was met with the brightest smile she'd ever seen. She couldn't help but smile back.

"Okay, Baby." She said in her most grown up voice. "Let's go find some help. Mommy says to ask a marine for help if I get lost..." She pondered her own words thoughtfully. "This isn't the same as being lost, but maybe they can help anyway..." She didn't know why, but Nojiko felt a bit better with the warmth and movement of the little body pressed against her chest. It was like she'd frozen over when she thought she was alone and now her numb heart was just starting to thaw out.

In her arms the infant girl, who would become first a thief and eventually a pirate, just giggled and cooed at her soon-to-be sister as if everything was going to be alright.

Because by the end of the day, thanks to a defeated marine with pink hair, they'd be a family.

Then all too soon, that baby's innocent smile would be lost with the echo of a gunshot, the mark of a traitor and the weight of an impossible burden.

However, eventually; thanks to a mad rubber boy with a straw hat, she would be free to smile again.

* * *

><p>Nami looked out over the grassy deck; pushing wet hair out of her eyes as she checked for any visible damage from the storm they had just weathered. It had been a particularly fierce one and her exhausted nakama were strewn around the deck.<p>

Chopper was tending a rope burn on Usopp's arm where the sniper had lost his grip on the rigging and got tangled in the blowing lines. The long nosed liar bit his lip and tried not to hiss in pain as the little doctor applied antiseptic.

Franky was already at work repairing a railing that had been broken when Luffy had overshot his aim and crashed into it. The sound of his hammering and grumbling about clumsy captains could be heard even over Brook's impromptu concert celebrating the return of the sun.

Robin was at the helm, serenely keeping them on course while the others recovered.

Sanji and Zoro were slumped side by side against the railing in a rare moment of truce. The swordsman had wasted no time in slipping into a light doze and the cook looked close to nodding off himself as he languidly smoked his first cigarette in several hours. The two rivals had born the brunt of the heavy work after Luffy had been doused with far too much seawater and had to be tied to the mast so he wouldn't accidentally get himself washed overboard.

Speaking of which, Nami spotted the rubber man still tied up and already squirming, his energy returning as the sun dried him and the deck. She sighed and wandered down the stairs to free him before he broke something.

Luffy was straining to twist his head around as she moved in front of him. "Nami!" He greeted her happily, though he still seemed distracted. "I need to get down." He told her with just a bit of tension in his otherwise cheerful tone.

Nami tried to puzzle out why his behavior seemed off to her as she worked the sodden ropes loose. Luffy burst free as soon as he could and jumped down, running off at once.

The dark haired teen darted from place to place; first checking on Usopp before moving on to each of his nakama in turn until he finally joined Brook's song, uncaring that he had no real clue about the tune or words.

Nami watched him curiously as the brief tension she had noticed seemed to fall away as he moved from person to person. As he danced, something in her mind clicked as she glanced from the now relaxed young man to the mast he had been tied to.

'He couldn't see us from there.' She realized, her stomach twisting in guilt. Luffy rarely showed any ill effects from their separation, but it was moments like this that she could see just a glimpse of the scars that two years apart had left on the resilient captain's heart and mind.

Before she could get bogged down by the guilt of that failure, a rubbery grin appeared in front of her face. "Ne, Nami! Come dance with us!" Luffy pleaded, pointed to Brook; who had been joined by Chopper, Franky and Usopp now that they had finished their tasks.

Nami crossed her arms and looked at her captain like he was a complete idiot; which, to be fair, sometimes he was.

The childish face fell and disappointment flickered in large eyes.

Nami felt something in her heart squeeze and she sighed. "Okay." She agreed in resignation.

The blinding grin bounced back into place and the rubber teen grabbed her hand and whirled her around the deck gleefully. It wasn't long before Nami found herself grinning back.

Years ago, in a little village called Cocoyashi, Luffy had given her back her smile.

The least she could do was help him keep his own.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Format is a bit different since Nami doesn't actually remember the flashback scene. She was too young. Still, I hope you liked it and I look forward to hearing what you think. Next Chapter: Usopp! Before the lies.<p> 


	4. Chapter Four: Usopp

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Note: Time for Usopp! Yay! He needs more love! Maybe just a hint of Usopp/Nami in the frame story but nothing that you can't consider nakamaship if you wish to deny the pairing. I just like to write them interacting because I think they're sweet. Anywho, on with the fic.

Chapter Four - Usopp: Before the Lies

* * *

><p>Usopp was sitting on the deck, up to his elbows in dirt in the small corner of the garden that he used to grow his ammunition. It was different from the long hours he had spent making pellets and explosives before the crew had been separated but he found the work satisfying enough. It reminded him of the little vegetable garden he'd kept behind his house in Syrup.<p>

'Except the tomatoes never tried to eat me.' He thought grimly, as he smacked a small carnivorous plant with his trowel when it snapped at his fingers.

"Usopp!" Nami's voice cut through the air and the sniper, turned reluctant botanist, brushed his hands off as he walked over to the railing to see what the orange haired navigator wanted. She spotted him and waved a package in the air. "You've got some mail."

The long-nosed pirate blinked in surprise. He never got mail. He didn't have anyone to get mail from. Curious, he made his way down to the main deck and took the brown paper wrapped package from the woman with nervous hands. Turning it over, the sniper found a letter tied to the package with Kaya's elegant script on the envelope. He fished his penknife from his bag and cut the knotted twine to free the letter.

Nami hovered nearby, clearly curious as well.

"The letter's from Kaya." Usopp began to read the letter and his heart lodged in his throat. He dropped the single piece of heavy paper and numbly opened the accompanying package. "But the gift..." He mumbled slowly.

"What is it?" The ginger haired woman blurted, unable to contain herself any longer.

The nineteen year old pulled out the gifts with trembling hands and a heavy heart. The first was an ivory handled pistol; perfectly balanced, sleek and beautiful. The sniper set it aside with a conflicted expression. The navigator's eyes widened in wonder at the clear quality and value of the weapon; even as she wondered who in the world would send their sniper a gun when he never used one. She was about to ask just that, but the question died on her tongue as the young man pulled out the other object from the brown paper.

"It's from my dad." Usopp said with a forced smile.

Nami eyed the beautiful green dress in confusion. "Um...Usopp, doesn't your dad know you're a boy?"

* * *

><p>Three year old Usopp ran into his house as fast as his legs would carry him. "Momma! Momma!" He shouted excitedly as he threw himself into the open arms of the smiling woman, with the long nose that matched his own.<p>

Banchina gave the squirming little boy a squeeze before pulling back to look him in the face seriously. "What is it?" She asked with wide eyes as she took in his joyful expression.

Usopp grinned. "I saw a man coming up the road with a box!" He crowed, loving the way his mother's eyes lit up at the news.

"Do you think it's from your poppa?" The dark haired woman asked with a soft smile.

"Yeah! Maybe he sent us a buried treasure!" The five year old began pulling on her hand, dragging her closer to the door and the man with the box.

Packages from his father had come sporadically over the years. Usopp had all kinds of odds and ends that his poppa had sent him after he first left. The gifts didn't come as often anymore but Momma said Poppa was probably just trying to keep them safe because now he had a bounty, whatever that meant.

The boy had only the vaguest memories of his father; the general impression of a laughing man with blonde hair. He'd been barely two when the man set out to sea but Momma said his poppa was a great pirate and she told him lots of stories. The other kids in the village teased him because his poppa had left. They said Yasopp was no good for anything and he'd abandoned his family because he didn't care about them; but Momma said that wasn't it at all and his momma didn't lie.

Momma said that some people aren't meant to live always on a little island in East Blue. Some men are drawn to the sea, to adventure, and without it they'd just waste away. She said that, if she had asked him to, Poppa would have stayed; but he wouldn't have been the same man she fell in love with. That's why she told his poppa he should go.

Usopp didn't really understand all the mushy talk about love but he understood adventure and he understood liking the ocean more than Syrup village. Someday he was going to become an adventurer like his poppa.

Momma also told him that the letters and gifts they got from his poppa were sent to remind them that he still cared about them, even if he wasn't with them all the time. Usopp knew that must be true too, because Momma said it.

"Come on, Momma!" The boy tugged eagerly and the laughing woman gave in to his urging and headed out to meet the deliveryman.

* * *

><p>Usopp struggled to carry the heavy box to the table, despite his mother's offer to help. "No, Momma. I'm the man of the house. I gotta be strong!" The four year old explained seriously, remembering what the last letter from his poppa had said about him.<p>

"Ah. Well thank you so much, my big strong man." Banchina laughed as she subtly helped push the box up onto the table before it could topple onto her son's head. "Are you going to open it for me as well?"

Usopp thought about that for a second before nodding firmly and climbing onto a chair to pry the lid off the box with the tiny pen knife he'd gotten from his poppa for his last birthday. Momma didn't let him play with it unless she was watching but he had learned to make a little flute out of a reed with it and Momma would laugh at his attempts to play and dance in the evenings. He did so as often as possible, because Momma didn't laugh nearly enough anymore.

Usopp set the lid aside and dug through the wood shavings until he pulled out a beautiful porcelain vase that Momma took from him quickly, so he could continue searching. Eager little hands fished around until his fingers brushed something hard and he pulled the object free triumphantly.

Wide eyes lit up in joy. It was beautiful. Green and shiny and all his. "Look Momma! I got a slingshot!" He crowed.

Banchina's eyes scrunched in worry mixed with amusement. "Just promise me you won't shoot the other boys with it, okay?"

Usopp paled at the idea. The other boys were all bigger than him and they'd definitely retaliate if he actually hit them. Still, he didn't want Momma to think he was a scaredy-cat. "Of course not, that would be bad." He announced bravely. "Can I go play with it? Please?"

His momma nodded and the little boy was out the door in a moment.

* * *

><p>Five year old Usopp tugged his momma's hand as he brought her to his secret practice place and then released her with a grand flourish.<p>

"Ta da!" He bounced on his toes nervously. "Look! I've been practicing!"

Banchina's eyes glistened as she watched her little boy take careful aim with his slingshot. A moment later there was a satisfying splat and the wooden target had a red splotch of berry juice right in the middle.

"You are so much like your poppa." She said with a fond smile as she ruffled his hair.

Usopp smiled at the praise but he took her hand and used his most serious grown up voice. "Maybe so, but don't worry Momma. I won't ever leave you."

Usopp might like looking out at the sea and maybe being like his father would be fun, but he loved his mother more.

The tears in her eyes spilled over as the long nosed woman knelt and hugged him tight. She didn't say anything at all as he hugged her back; trying to make everything all better like she always did for him.

Usopp didn't know that his father had once offered her that same promise. He didn't know that she could no longer offer him reassurance that she wouldn't leave him either.

* * *

><p>Banchina sank into a chair, coughing and pale. She wiped her mouth on a handkerchief and quickly balled it up to hide the trace of blood as her six year old turned to look at her with concern in his wide eyes.<p>

"Are you okay, Momma?" Usopp asked quietly.

"I'll be fine, Sweetie. It's just a little cold." She smiled as she brushed his worries away.

Usopp frowned as something felt funny in his stomach at the words; and the smile that didn't reach Momma's eyes. He didn't say it out loud but the words echoed in his mind.

'She's lying.'

* * *

><p>Usopp placed the box on the table and dug through his satchel for his penknife. The thirteen year old soon had the crate open and he pulled out the contents curiously. He laid the beautiful necklace aside after only a glance. He could sell it and maybe get enough food to last a few weeks before he had to go back to picking up odd jobs around town. It would give him a chance to fix the leak in the roof and maybe get some new overalls too, if someone was feeling generous. It looked like a really nice necklace. Momma would have liked it.<p>

The boy pushed the painful thought away and distracted himself with the task at hand. Digging a bit further into the crate brought up a book of adventure stories and a bag of lead shot. The former went onto the slightly crooked bookshelf he had made himself when the old one broke and the latter was dropped into the bag at his hip before he set the box of shavings beside the fireplace. He could use it for tinder later.

"Happy birthday to me." He sang softly to the empty house that hadn't really felt like home for years. Shaking himself free of the sadness that was pulling at his limbs, the young teen stood and grinned. "Right! Time to go check for pirates." He announced with a forced laugh. "I'm sure there will be some today."

He was lying.

* * *

><p>Usopp let out a brittle sounding laugh at the question. "The gun's for me." He explained quietly; glancing at the weapon he'd set aside, like it was a snake that might bite him. He shook his head and pressed on. "The dress...is for my mom."<p>

Nami's eyes widened in shock. "But you said she..."

The sniper shrugged with feigned nonchalance. "He doesn't know she's gone. I never knew how to get in touch with him." It wasn't entirely true, the mail system was pretty good and he could have figured it out. It was more like he hadn't known what to say.

Nami took a moment to absorb that statement and its implications. "So, he's been sending gifts like this..."

Usopp shrugged. "My whole life; ever since he left. Not too often anymore. I hadn't gotten anything from him in over a year when I left." He shifted the shimmering material of the dress in his fingers absently as he spoke. "Kaya's letter said this came just after we...er...left Saobody. She held onto it and sent it as soon as she heard we were back."

The navigator frowned. She'd never really thought much about Usopp's father; not since they'd first met the teen years ago. She had always just sort of assumed the man hadn't contacted his family since he left.

"I guess that means he doesn't know I've left Syrup either." The long nosed man chuckled humorlessly.

Nami didn't know what to say to that. She missed her mother, but somehow she felt it would be almost worse to have a living parent out there who knew nothing about her. Words were the sniper's forte, not hers. She could spin a con but she didn't know how to provide comfort for such an old wound. On impulse, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around the distracted young man. Usopp stiffened in her grasp for a moment before the tension drained out of him and he leaned his head on top of hers as his arms cautiously returned the embrace; the dress slipping from his fingers to the grass.

The pair stood like that for several several long moments, until the dark haired sniper pulled back and smiled.

"So, do you want this?" He asked lightly; scooping up the dress slowly and holding it out to her.

Nami faltered. It felt strangely wrong to accept a gift meant for a dead woman.

"It would be a shame for such a nice gift to go to waste." Usopp insisted.

"Well...um...I guess I can see if it fits." The navigator reached out and took the offered garment reluctantly; and was rewarded with a small genuine grin from the sniper.

"Thanks, Nami." He seemed relieved but distracted as he scooped up the gun to put it away before Luffy got a hold of it. "You're going to look beautiful in it, I'm sure. You always are..." He trailed off as if his brain had suddenly caught up to his lips, and a faintly horrified expression crossed his features before he could cover it.

The navigator found herself blushing as she looked at the crew's resident liar. The long nosed man looked away from her gaze nervously, blushing himself; and she realized something that made her mind reel at the implications.

When he said he thought she was beautiful...Usopp was telling the truth.

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><p>Author's Note: Four down, five to go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and let me know what you think. Next Chapter: Sanji! Where are his parents and how did he end up apprenticed on that cruise ship?<p> 


	5. Chapter Five: Sanji

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Note: This story was actually where the idea for this set of fics started and it snowballed from there. Hehehe. I hope you enjoy it. Please review and let me know.

Chapter Five - Sanji: Before the Hunger

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><p>Sanji pulled his wool coat closer around his shoulders as he leaned against the railing of the Thousand Sunny. The ship was docked at a winter island. That was why the blonde cook had volunteered to stand watch while the others took care of supplies and other matters in the small town.<p>

Chopper had been thrilled by the sight of the small island with its snow topped houses and evergreen forests. They reminded him of his home island.

Sanji didn't care much for the cold, for the exact same reason.

He flinched as the first flakes of the snowstorm, that his brilliant Nami-swan had predicted, melted against his cheeks and hands.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigarette. In moments he was watching the tendril of smoke mingle with the white specks against the darkened sky.

No, he didn't care much for snow. It had taken too much from him.

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><p>Sanji huddled deeper into his heavy coat as he walked down the road behind the black carriage. His father held his hand, but he couldn't really feel it through his mitten and it wasn't where his attention was glued anyway.<p>

The three year old was wondering why they had put his mother in the box on the black carriage. She had been sick but he hadn't heard her coughing in days so she was getting better. It had been a bad winter, even by North Blue standards. Blizzards had battered the island and a fever had afflicted many of the people in his town. He wasn't allowed to go into his mother's room after she caught it; being forced to stay in his room with his nanny as he listened to doctors come and go at all hours of the day.

"Father...when is Mother going to get up?" He asked quietly, brows furrowed as he wondered how she was going to get up after they had put a top over that box she was riding in. He thought maybe it was just to keep the snow off her face. Mother never did like snow much.

The hand in his tightened reflexively and the tall blonde man at his side glanced down at him with a pained expression. Curling eyebrows that matched his own furrowed, as the man considered how best to answer the question.

"Sanji..." The man began sternly but that didn't bother the boy much, Father was always stern. What scared the child was the tear that trailed down his father's cheek as he spoke. "Sanji...your mother isn't coming back anymore."

The small face pulled into a frown. "But she's not gone...she's right there." He nearly shouted, pointing at the box. "That's what the man with the horses said!"

Father frowned and gave him a warning glare for raising his voice. "That's enough." He snapped. "I'll talk to you later."

Father's hand was all that kept the child from throwing himself after the box as they lowered it into the cold ground. Mother wouldn't like being underground; she didn't like being dirty at all.

Father carried him home after he'd cried himself almost to sleep; tucking him into bed sadly before going down to deal with their guests.

"Stay with him, please." The boy vaguely heard his father order his nanny.

"Of course, Sir." Nan responded thickly. Her voice clogged with tears. Sanji felt her warm hand brushing through his hair and he snuggled into the touch automatically. He sniffled as his own tears threatened to start again. "Hush, child." Nan crooned. "It will be alright. I'm here."

* * *

><p>Two years later, Sanji walked behind the black carriage alone and stood quietly by as his father joined his mother. He didn't have any questions this time. He had overheard the doctors say it was pneumonia that had taken his father from him but Sanji knew better.<p>

Father wanted to go. Oh, he had tried to stay for Sanji's sake. He'd tried to be a good man and teach his son to be a proper gentleman; but in the end even the child could tell the man was already leaving him. He could see it in how empty his father's eyes became after Mother left them. By the time the man got sick, Sanji had been relegated to the care of his nanny exclusively for months.

The little blonde boy felt a numbness that had nothing to do with the cold settle deep in his bones as he threw the first handful of dirt onto the black box before he was allowed to go home. He was only partially aware of his beloved nanny taking his hand and cooing reassurances to him that she'd make certain he was taken care of.

* * *

><p>"Master Sanji." The gentle voice of his nanny pulled the five year old boy from his thoughts.<p>

He was supposed to be practicing his letters but he'd been staring out the window at the snow. He knew his letters well enough anyway. He turned to face the plump, matronly woman who was the only servant left in the house. All the others had been let go after Father died. Father's lawyers had taken care of that, since there was no other family to tend to the estate.

He turned a serious gaze on the woman; his hair falling into his eyes since no one was around to tell him he had to have it cut.

"I was going to bake a cake." Nanny smiled once she had his attention. "Would you like to help me?"

The young boy's eyes lit up with the first spark of life the older woman had seen from him all day and he smiled as he jumped up from his table.

"What kind of cake, Nan?" He asked excitedly. "Chocolate? Vanilla? Red velvet?"

His nanny smiled back down at him. "Actually, I got a special treat for you."

"A treat?" The curling brows furrowed as the child thought deeply about what it could be.

"Yes. I got a crate of oranges from my sister and I thought we could make an orange cream cake." She explained, not mentioning that she had asked her sister for the fruit especially for that purpose.

In the months since his father had passed, Sanji had lost interest in his toys and his studies. She had been desperate to bring him out of his somber mood. One day she had offered to let him help make cookies and had been astounded to see his dull gaze perk with interest as he had watched her measure the ingredients and add them to the bowl for him to stir. He had been clearly skeptical that the goo they had created was going to turn into cookies at all.

His wide eyed expression as she had pulled the finished sweets from the oven was almost comical. His smile, as she handed him a plate of the warm chewy treats, lit up his eyes as nothing else had in months.

Since then, the boy had become a fixture in the kitchen whenever she was cooking. She knew it wasn't the sort of education he was supposed to be getting. It wasn't an appropriate activity for a young gentleman, but she didn't have the heart to deny him. Not when it was the only time he seemed truly happy.

The small hand tugging at her own pulled her from her musings and she found the serious young gentleman from only a few moments earlier had suddenly turned into an eager five year old.

The pair spent the rest of the afternoon in the cozy kitchen; the cold emptiness in Sanji's heart driven away for a while by the warmth of the oven.

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><p>Sanji tried to understand what Father's lawyers were telling him but he felt numb and they kept using big words like investments and resources. All he could do was try to maintain the dignity Father had always insisted a young gentleman should strive for and hope Nan could explain it after they left.<p>

Finally, one of the men, an older gentleman with bushy gray hair, laid a warm hand on his arm and said something the boy could understand. "The house will have to be sold to pay off the investors in your fathers company. Do you have anywhere to go?"

Sanji shook his head without really being aware of the motion as the words sank in.

"I can take him in." A voice timidly chimed in.

The boy's eyes shot to Nan, full of gratitude and the faintest flicker of hope.

"You won't be paid to care for him." One of the men was protesting sourly, as if he could think of no other reason the woman might volunteer to take in the orphaned six year old.

Nan straightened in offense at the implication. "I'm aware of that, Sir. I can provide him with what he needs for now...and maybe find someone to take him on as an apprentice. He'll need to learn a trade..." She trailed off, clearly having been considering such matters for longer than the couple hours the meeting had been going on.

Sanji frowned as the conversation began the drift over his head again but he kept glancing at his nanny and she offered him a reassuring smile every time.

That afternoon, the child carried only a small bag of personal possessions as he left the home that was no longer his.

* * *

><p>"You'll see." Nan was assuring him for the hundredth time that morning as they walked through the snow towards the docks. "You're going to love it. My brother-in-law says they need a good apprentice and I know you're going to be brilliant at it. You're such a smart boy."<p>

Sanji nodded dutifully, before craning his neck to get his first look at his new home. Eyes widened as he marveled at the huge ship. He would have stood there studying it for much longer if Nan hadn't tugged him toward a man directing a group of sailors in loading cargo.

"Marie!" The man grinned and hugged the shorter woman cheerfully. "And this must be young Sanji."

Sanji nodded. "Yes, sir." He responded distractedly when Nan squeezed his hand.

"I hear you want to be a cook." The man said pleasantly.

The words made Sanji hesitate in surprise as he looked up at the woman who was smiling down at him encouragingly. Nan hadn't really told him what he was to do on the ship he was being apprenticed on. She'd merely smiled and told him it was a surprise. He liked cooking with Nan but he'd never actually considered it as a profession. Father would have been appalled at the idea. Gentlemen kept accounts or ran merchant fleets; they didn't cook. That was servants' work.

However, it occurred to him now, that father wasn't around anymore. The not quite seven year old boy suddenly felt as if a weight that he hadn't realized he was carrying had just been lifted from his shoulders. He was free. He didn't have to become the person his Mother and Father had groomed him to be from birth. He could make his own choices.

"Yes." He found himself answering the friendly captain with an eager grin. "I do."

"Good lad." The man laughed and patted him on the head.

Sanji cringed away from the patronizing gesture but bore it silently. He was his own man now and he was going to be a cook.

* * *

><p>Sanji shook off the memories and breathed out a cloud of smoke into the snowy sky.<p>

He took another pull of burning tobacco and wondered a bit sadly if Nan was still alive. He wondered if she knew he was alive and well. After he and the old geezer got off that awful rock, Zeff had eventually told him that they had both been reported as lost at sea and were presumed dead for almost a month by the time they were rescued. For the old pirate it had been a chance to start over and Sanji had felt honor bound to help him. That meant letting the report of his death remain unchanged. Otherwise, the risk was too high that bounty hunters would come after the old geezer. Sanji couldn't have allowed that, especially not in those first couple years when the old man was still recovering from their shared ordeal. Eventually, the need for the ruse had faded but he still couldn't go home. He had to help Zeff get his floating restaurant started. Then he had had his hands full; learning everything the geezer could teach him about cooking and fighting, not to mention keeping the other cooks in line once he was made assistant head chef.

It had been over a decade and the blonde had no idea if the news that he'd actually survived that crappy rock had ever reached his home island.

'Maybe it's better that way.' He thought; considering what his old nanny would likely think of him becoming a wanted pirate. He snorted at the idea, picturing the scolding the plump woman would likely give him if she knew.

The cook wandered towards his galley, trying to remember if he had all the ingredients for an orange cream cake. He didn't have oranges, but he could use the tangerines the navigator had picked to save them from the frost.

Sanji stubbed out his cigarette and pushed away the little voice in his mind that told him he was being a sentimental idiot. That wasn't it at all. He just had a sudden craving and he thought Nami-swan would like the dessert as well.

When he heard his nakama arrive back on board, Sanji smiled to himself and went to announce to his beloved ladies that dinner was served.

That evening when he unveiled the beautiful cake, his galley was filled with the warm, sweet scent of citrus and sugar; and the cold that had tried to settle into his bones had been driven away by the warmth of the oven and the laughter of his nakama.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in a little house in North Blue, a plump matronly woman read her newspaper eagerly for any news about a certain crew of pirates. Finding nothing this time, she put the paper aside and smiled fondly at a wanted poster that hung framed on her wall. The picture was awful, like something drawn by a four year old, but there weren't many people with those distinctive curling eyebrows and blonde hair.<p>

The boy she had raised and cared for like he was her own; she'd been told he was dead. Her brother-in-law had brought her the news himself. Her boy had been lost at sea; washed overboard, and rescue efforts had come up empty. He had held out hope for a long time, but she was a practical woman. People died everyday, even little boys with curious blue eyes and soft blonde hair. In the end, she had grieved for him, cried for him, and eventually made her peace with the loss.

Then, the world went into in an uproar over a crew of rookie pirates attacking Ennies Lobby, but it was a distant concern to her. In the far reaches of North Blue; the Grand Line seemed like a fairy tale. However, opening her paper to see that distorted but familiar face looking back at her from the stack of newly printed wanted posters brought the events much closer to home. It was like having snowmelt dumped over her head; her breath had frozen in her lungs and she had to blink away tears before she could read the details. The familiar name on the bounty notice was merely confirmation of what her heart was telling her.

Her Sanji was alive! It didn't matter what else the papers said about the Strawhat crew; that he lived was comfort enough for his old nanny. Besides, she knew in her heart that he had to be a good man. She could accept nothing else as truth. Later papers had provided more clues about the man her boy had become. She knew he was Strawhat Luffy's cook and that made her happier than it probably should have; with all the terrifying exploits being credited to his crew, and the even more distressing details that were likely being withheld. As confused as she was about how exactly he had become a pirate; she hoped he was at least happy with the life he had chosen.

Her heart had broken when the Strawhats vanished without a trace. However, when the captain turned up alive; her hope flickered to life once more. Two years later she was rewarded with an article that announced the triumphant reunion of the notorious rookies and she had laughed and cried in utter relief. Her Sanji was a survivor and she wouldn't doubt him again.

She even dared to dream she might get to see him again someday.

Humming, she offered the poster one more fond smile before she got up and wandered into her cozy kitchen. Suddenly feeling like she just had to see if she had the ingredients for an orange cream cake.

That evening, the cozy kitchen was filled with the smell of caramelized sugar and sweet citrus; and the cold of the snow outside was pushed away by the warmth of the oven and the memories of laughter dancing in blue eyes that were half hidden behind a fall of straw colored hair.

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><p>Author's Note: Well, I hope you liked it. Yay! Sanji's story came out sad and a bit fluffy at the same time but...hey, I left an almost parental figure alive! The mind boggles, doesn't it? Hehehe. In my defense about all the dead parents; I didn't do it! Oda did it! I'm just going off what he's told us. So um...right. Please review! Thanks. Next Chapter: Chopper! Before he was human.<p> 


	6. Chapter Six: Chopper

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Note: Skipping Vivi (because she may be nakama but she abandoned them and therefore doesn't count) and putting Robin after Chopper because she wasn't really nakama material when they first met her. So, I guess I'm doing these in the order that Luffy decided they were joining him rather than the order in which they met him. Hehehe.

Chapter Six - Chopper: Before the Fruit

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><p>Chopper carefully wrapped the herbs he had gathered in a clean cloth before stowing them in his backpack. He stood and brushed his knees off; stretching the kinks out of his back before looking around the quiet, snow covered forest for any sign of danger. His nose twitched at a somewhat familiar scent and he turned to confirm what his animal senses were telling him.<p>

A large herd of reindeer was passing by less than a hundred yards away; furry bodies pressed together for warmth and protection from predators.

The little doctor felt a twinge of longing as memories washed over him.

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><p>Snow laden wind howled across Drum Island and the herd huddled close together to keep warm. At the edge of the mass of furry forms, a small reindeer struggled to push his way into the protective warmth but he was rebuffed at every turn; pushed away with the bump of a horned head or blocked by a furred flank.<p>

He finally gave up and settled a few feet away from the herd for the night. Shaky little legs folded under him and he curled his head around to hide his face from the biting frost. His tiny blue nose twitched as he tested the cold air for scents of danger.

* * *

><p>The storm passed and despite the efforts of the herd to cull the defective blue nosed creature from their midst, the little reindeer survived. He followed a little ways behind as the herd moved through the forest, stripping bark from the trees for food as the last of the green things had long fallen to be buried under ice and snow.<p>

The mutant reindeer foraged among the scraps that the rest of the herd left behind. His stomach clenched with hunger but he had grown almost accustomed to that pain; and he had quickly realized that crying out did him no good. The one who had born him wanted nothing to do with him and the rest of the herd was in agreement. They were just waiting for nature to take him back.

He scraped his teeth against a thin trunk and managed to gather a small mouthful of coarse bark before he trotted along to catch up to the herd. He did not dare get left behind. There were things in the forest that set his small heart racing and his nostrils flaring; and while the herd did not offer him much protection, his mind insisted there was strength in numbers.

* * *

><p>The winter was harsh and food had become scarce. The little reindeer stumbled after the herd, finding all the trees scraped bare. There had been no scraps for the outcast to eat, not for many days.<p>

That's when he saw it, a strange looking fruit half buried in the snow. The half starved creature was too hungry to wonder why the rest of the herd had left such a morsel behind. He pawed the fruit free of its icy prison with trembling hooves and then lowered his head to take a bite. His eyes rolled and he snorted in disgust at the almost rancid flavor but he swallowed the disgusting mouthful anyway; survival instinct overriding everything but the need to have food in his stomach.

The little reindeer reached out and picked up the fruit, taking another bite and grimacing at the taste even as he forced it down to quell the grumbling in his stomach.

Over half the strange fruit was gone when he realized something strange was happening but his mind still insisted that food had to be the first priority so he brought the fruit to his mouth again and hurriedly finished it, trying to avoid tasting it any more than he had to.

He picked up snow with his hooves and ate it, in an effort to wash the foul taste from his mouth and that's when the change registered with his mind.

He was sitting on his hindquarters in the snow, with his limbs attached at strange angles like the creatures that sometimes attacked the herd with branches that made thunder.

"Aaaghhh!" He yelped and then his hooves shot to his mouth in alarm; as the sound that came out of his mouth was not at all what it should have been.

He had to get help, the little reindeer decided in a panic. He scrambled onto his feet, at first on all four which felt strange in his new shape and made him tip over onto his head after only a few steps. Then he used a tree to pull himself nervously up onto only his back two hooves, the way he'd seen the thunder creatures move.

He took a deep breath to steady himself and then carefully let go of the tree and tested his new balance. It took only a couple of tries before he was able to run on his short legs and he hurried to catch the rest of his herd, tracing them by scent with his little blue nose.

He spotted them ahead, already forming a tight clump of warm furry forms to settle in for the coming night as he approached.

"Hey!" He called out, feeling the strangeness of this voice that was his and yet not his at the same time. "Help!" He struggled to slog through the snow on his short legs, wishing he had his own graceful limbs back.

Suddenly, the herd leader was in front of him, horns cutting dangerously in front of the outcast's face.

"OH!" He fell back onto his tail in the snow, startled and a little afraid as the larger reindeer stood protectively between him and the rest of the herd.

The majestic creature shook its head and made some noises that sounded both familiar and strange to the little reindeer's ears.

"I'm not a monster! I don't know what happened." He answered the harshly worded question tearfully. "I was hungry and I ate a piece of fruit...and then this!" He waved his arms around to demonstrate as tear rolled from his large eyes. "Please help."

There was a stillness that seemed to drag on for an eternity.

Then the larger reindeer turned away from the blue nosed creature and walked back to the herd.

The child who was now neither reindeer nor human could only stare as the herd moved away from him. The message as clear as a shout to his newly expanded mind:

Don't follow.

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><p>"Chopper!"<p>

The little doctor jumped a bit as his name was called out suddenly and loudly from a few yards away. He pulled his gaze away from the herd of reindeer passing by in order to look instead to the grinning face of his captain.

"Come on! Nami says the log is set and this island is boooring!" He scrunched up his face in distaste on the last word; as if boring was the absolute worst thing in the world and this island had decided to be so just to offend him.

A rush of warmth washed the memory of cold and loneliness from the little reindeer's mind as he beamed back at the boy in the straw hat. "Coming!" He said cheerfully as he shifted to walk point in order to more easily cross the drifts of snow.

He was born a reindeer but his herd had made him believe that he was a monster. Doctor Hililuk had tried to teach Chopper how to be a human and made him dream of being a pirate. Doctorine had done her best to teach him to be a healer. The Strawhats had taught him how to be part of a family.

Luffy had taught him that it was good to just be himself. Chopper was a reindeer, a human, a doctor, a pirate and sometimes, even a monster; but above all of those things he was nakama.

Chopper watched as the rubber man bounced and fidgeted in place impatiently; as he waited for the doctor to catch up. The message in his movements was as clear as a shout to the little doctor's scarred heart.

We can't go without you!

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><p>Author's Note: So much fluff! I love Chopper. This chapter was harder than some of the others but I really like the way it turned out. I hope you do as well. The frame story could actually be considered to be taking place around the same time as the frame in Sanji's chapter but it doesn't have to be. Anywho, thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think! Next Chapter: Robin! Before she bloomed.<p> 


	7. Chapter Seven: Robin

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Note: Hurray! Time for Robin! I hope you all enjoy it. Please Review!

Chapter Seven - Robin: Before the Bloom

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><p>Robin lounged in a chair on the grassy desk of the Sunny; a heavy book laid across her lap. The pages were covered with spidery writing but it was an image to the side that had caught her attention. It was a drawing of the great tree library of Ohara and it caused old memories to flood her mind.<p>

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><p>Two year old Robin ran up to her mother on the beach; beaming proudly as she held up a handful of rocks for inspection.<p>

"Look! I'm a arc-ololo-gist too!" She announced happily.

"You are?" Her mother smiled fondly as she knelt down to see what treasures her little girl had unearthed. "Ah, let's see...oh yes, this one looks like it was broken by something. See the flat edge here? Oh, and this one is smooth because it was probably in the sand near the ocean."

Robin nodded seriously, absorbing the details her mother was pointing out like a sponge. The little girl loved to learn new things and the best part of learning was the way one new discovery led to another, until she had a whole trail of new things to show for her effort.

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><p>By two and a half, Nico Robin had already nearly worn out her little collection of children's books and had begged until her mother cautiously allowed her to visit Ohara's amazing library. She loved looking through the books there, though some of the larger words were beyond her current level of understanding. She could still usually get the idea of what they were about. They were much better than the fairy stories she had at home too, because they were about things that really happened.<p>

With so many amazing things that had really happened, why did people need to make up stories at all?

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><p>Robin didn't know where her mother went when they went to the great library. She only knew she was always told to stay in the front rooms and listen to the older archeologists that sat around reading or talking quietly.<p>

Once, she had tried to find her and the little girl had been somewhat confused to find no sign of the blonde woman anywhere in the library, even when she snuck up to the upper floors. Then Olivia had come rushing out of a room that Robin was sure she had just checked. The older woman scolded her for wandering off.

"I won't be able to bring you here anymore if you can't follow the rules like I taught you to."

Dark eyes widened in dismay and alarm. "I'll be good!" Robin promised quickly. "I promise I won't do it again."

Olivia held her stern expression for a few more seconds before she gave in to the small smile that was threatening to break free and ruffled her precocious four year old's dark hair affectionately.

"Okay." She sighed. "You're just too much like your mother I guess."

Robin blinked up at her mother with a hesitant smile. "So...I can still come to the library?"

Olivia nodded. "Always, sweetie." She smiled back. "You can even come here without me if you want to."

Robin was too excited by this new freedom to notice the sadness in her mother's voice.

* * *

><p>"Brat! Where are the apples I told you to pick yesterday?"<p>

Five year old Robin ducked as a wicker basket was flung at her head by her aunt. She scrambled after it, to pick it up before the woman could find further reason to berate her.

"I ran out of time with all my other chores." The little girl protested quietly, already knowing it would do no good but unable to hold her tongue.

"Excuses!" The older woman fumed. "Well, go get them now and be quick about it. I have guests coming over later and I need them to bake a tart."

"Yes, Ma'am." The dark haired child made a hasty exit and hurried to the small grove of fruit trees her aunt and uncle maintained on the edge of town.

She struggled with the heavy ladder and scrambled up into the first tree, picking all the apples she could reach before moving on to the next tree.

She was nearly finished filling the basket when she saw something strange in the tree near her. It was half hidden by leaves but when she brushed them aside it was immediately clear to the intelligent little girl that it was no apple. It was a pale pink thing and actually looked more like a fat flower than a fruit at all, with delicate swirled petals cupping the main body of the fruit.

Curious, Robin reached out and plucked the fruit free to get a closer look at it.

"Akuma no mi?" She mumbled curiously as she realized what the unusual thing must be.

She had only read a little bit about them, because they were widely believed to be a myth and she preferred history. Clearly she shouldn't have dismissed them so quickly. Still, she knew enough to be able to decide which question she needed to ask next.

"So which one is this?" She pondered aloud.

* * *

><p>Two days later, after spending all of her few spare hours deep in the great library, Robin had her answer.<p>

The image in the book was old and not well drawn but it was too similar to the fruit, which she had secreted away under the floorboard in her room, for it to be anything else.

"The Hana Hana no Mi gives the user the ability to bloom any part of their body from any nearby solid surface. The user can then control the multiplied limbs at will. The limits of this power are unknown; although, as with all Akuma no Mi, the user forfeits the ability to swim in return for the abilities they gain." She read the passage aloud to herself as an idea struck her that she hadn't thought of before.

When she had first found the Hana Hana no Mi, she had thought it might be valuable; and it was that. However, now that she knew it didn't do anything horrible; like the one that could turn someone into mud, or anything stupid like the one that would turn the user's body into rubber; it actually occurred to her that it might be worthwhile to eat it herself.

* * *

><p>That night, Robin lay in her room on her bed and studied the almost pretty looking fruit thoughtfully. The light from the moon shone on it where she had placed it on her pillow, while she considered her choices.<p>

On one hand, it was probably worth more beri than she could ever hope to see but she wasn't overly interested in money. On the other hand, she would be able to finish her chores much more quickly with extra hands to help her along, which would mean more time to spend in the library.

Robin picked up the fruit and thought of all the long hours of cleaning that she did for her aunt and all the books she still needed to read if she wanted to be an archeologist and go on expeditions like her mother did.

The dark haired child brought the fruit to her lips and hesitated for only a moment before she took a bite. She frowned at the flavor; like dirt and moldy old leaves, but she swallowed and determinedly took another bite.

She had never cared much for swimming anyway.

* * *

><p>"Agh! It's her! Hide!"<p>

The small group of children scattered out of Robin's path as she walked towards the library; clutching the book she was returning to her chest like a shield. She had accidentally revealed her powers a couple months earlier. Ever since then she had been regarded with fear and suspicion by everyone but her friends at the library. The children were the cruelest about it; even going so far as to throw rocks at her a time or two.

"My mom says she's a monster." One little girl whispered loudly.

"Yeah, my dad says that if you eat one of the akuma no mi, you have to give up your soul." An older boy claimed.

"Plus, all those arms are creepy!" Another child insisted. "Even her mother doesn't want to be around her."

Robin stopped walking, shoulders shaking. Her mother loved her and she'd be back. That's why the little girl needed to become a real archeologist soon; so she could go with the white haired woman on her next expedition. Besides, she didn't think her power was creepy; she thought it was kind of beautiful. Maybe they just needed a demonstration. "Three Hands." She mumbled under her breath, since she'd found that stating what she was trying to bloom helped her visualize it in her head. Pale arms reached out of the ground and caught each of the whisperers by the ankle. "Trip."

A chorus of surprised and angry shouts followed her as she continued on her way. She knew she'd be in trouble if word got back to her aunt, but she just couldn't resist.

* * *

><p>Robin's memories were interrupted as she had to hurriedly move from her chair to keep from being tackled by her captain. The rubber man was playing some sort of elaborate game of tag with Usopp and Chopper and they had been making a nuisance of themselves all morning. She sighed as she eyed the broken remains of her chair and the tangle of laughing bodies.<p>

Luffy grinned up at her from the bottom of the pile. "Ne, Robin, do you want to play with us?" He asked eagerly.

Robin considered the question before a small smile spread across her features and she nodded agreeably. "Certainly, Captain. I will be it."

"Great! Shishishi!" The rubber man hopped up; flinging the other two off him with ease.

"Ow!" Usopp complained, before launching into all the reasons he shouldn't be thrown that way.

"Okay, Robin!" Luffy ignored the protests with practiced ease. "Ready?"

The dark haired woman nodded. "Mm. Ready. Set." She paused as the trio of overgrown children tensed. "Go."

All three took off across the deck at top speed and Robin gave them a moment before crossing her arms. "Tres Manos." She announced with a smirk, as arms bloomed from each young man's back. "Tag. Game over."

Luffy laughed and Usopp and Chopper complained she was cheating but she merely chuckled.

"Sorry." She offered lightly, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "I simply couldn't resist."

Author's Note: Hmm...I hope you all liked it. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Robin is hard to get a grasp on because she's so quiet. Ah well. Please review! Next Chapter: Franky! Before Tom's Workers.


	8. Chapter Eight: Franky

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Notes: Time for Franky! SUPER! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. I had no internet for my computer for a few days. It isn't so bad though. It gave me a chance to polish this chapter up a little. I hope you enjoy it. Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!

WARNING: This chapter does contain some child abuse.

Chapter Eight - Franky: Before the Metal

* * *

><p>"Ship coming up on our starboard side!" Usopp's voice floated down from the crow's nest where the sniper had been on watch. "They're flying a pirate flag, but I don't recognize it."<p>

Zoro stood up and stretched; looking towards the wrong side of the ship entirely before turning in almost full circle in order to spot the approaching vessel. Sanji emerged from the galley, wiping his hands on a hand towel before lighting a cigarette as he looked across the sea with a look of irritated boredom. The rest of the crew stopped what they were doing to investigate the sniper's claims as well; except for Robin who kept reading as she bloomed an extra eye on the side of the crow's nest for a good view.

Luffy grinned and bounced down from his special seat to peer across the expanse of ocean. He flexed his muscles as he prepared to go see what these new pirates were like via his usual abrupt mode of transportation.

Franky turned his attention to the approaching ship from his place at the helm. They were close enough now to see the jolly roger painted on the sail and the familiarity of it made his eyes widen in shock.

"Luffy! Wait!" He shouted; ignoring the looks the rest of the crew gave him as he clutched the wheel of the Sunny in his massive hands. If the ship hadn't been made of adamwood; the helm would have been damaged by his grip.

The rubber man paused his preparations to rocket himself across the gap between the vessels and turned a curious look on his shipwright. Franky wasn't usually one to shy away from meeting new people, even people who were likely to end up being their enemies.

Franky's eyes were locked on the other ship with something like dread; the blue hair on the vicious looking skull and crossed swords bringing back memories that were better forgotten.

* * *

><p>"BOY!"<p>

Four year old Cutty Flam cringed and shoved himself further down behind the barrels of flour. He heard his father's heavy boots stomping across the deck above as the man looked for him.

"Get out here, Boy!" The anger in the voice caused the blue haired child to shudder. "It'll be worse for you if I have to come get you!"

"Please. It was an accident." A new voice had the little boy's head jerking up in alarm. She shouldn't get in the way. "He didn't mean any harm. He was only playing. It can be fixed."

The sound of flesh striking flesh was unmistakable to little ears that had heard it too many times, as was the thump of a body being thrown to the wooden deck.

"Momma." He whispered, tears welling up in terrified eyes.

Another slap cut through the air and the child was scrambling from his hiding place without further thought; as his love for his mother overwhelmed his fear of his father.

He burst out onto the deck and threw himself between the blue haired pirate captain and the crumpled dark haired woman; little arms spread wide to protect the only person he loved.

The man's expression grew even more angry and he reached out a meaty hand to lift the child up by the back of his shorts; dangling the boy in midair like a landed fish and giving him a shake as he shouted and cursed.

The boy was barely listening. Flam was too busy watching his mother pull herself shakily to her feet; one of her eyes already beginning to blacken as she moved forward and tried to talk her husband out of hurting him.

The pirate backhanded her across the face. "Know your place! He's mine and I will do what I want to him."

"Please. He's just a child!" She cried out desperately.

Flam didn't wait for the next strike to hit his mother. He had to do something before she got really hurt. "Leave her alone!" He screamed and kicked out at the nearest target he thought he might be able to hit, which happened to be his father's nose.

There was a sickening crunch and suddenly Flam was falling as his father yowled and dropped him in order to grab his injured face. The little boy felt all the air rush from his lungs as he hit the deck but terror propelled him to his feet and he grabbed his mother's hand and pulled her along. They had to run, had to hide.

"Grab the brat!" His father ordered, spitting out the blood that was streaming down his face from his broken nose and busted lip.

Hands caught the child from half a dozen angles as the crew hurried to obey their captain's order and the boy was dragged kicking and screaming back to stand before his father. More of the crew held his momma back as she struggled to reach him.

"Do you know what happens to pirates who disobey the captain on this ship, Boy?" The huge man growled as he towered over the child menacingly.

Flam's little face paled but he nodded grimly. He had to be brave. He had to protect his momma.

"Hmph." The man scowled, clearly having been expecting more of a reaction. "String him up." He ordered the crew sharply.

"NO! Don't hurt him!"

The trembling child was dragged over to the wall of the cabin where one of the crew members took his shirt off him. Then his little hands were tied together with a length of rope that was then looped over a hook mounted into the wall. The hook was well over his head and they hadn't left enough rope for his feet to touch the ground, so he dangled with his face pressed against the rough planks.

Flam could hear his mother screaming and he told himself he couldn't cry. If he cried she would be sad and he didn't want her to be sad anymore. He would be strong for her.

The sound of his father's belt clearing the loops of his pants caused goose bumps to rise on his skin.

"Normally I'd use the whip, but then there'd be nothing left of you, scrawny brat." The man chuckled but there was no humor in it.

Flam held his breath. He couldn't see what his father was doing but he had a pretty good guess what was going to happen next. He'd been beaten by the man before; he always seemed to be in trouble for something, but not like this. He waited for what seemed like forever until finally he had to release the breath he was holding in a rush.

That's when the buckle on his father's belt lit the first line of fire down his back.

The child screamed and tears welled up in his large eyes. He bit his lip to cut the sound off and scrunched his eyes shut; ducking his head down between his arms and the wall so his momma wouldn't see.

The next strike followed the first in quick succession as the angry man released all his fury on the little body.

Flam was a smart boy and he could count pretty high but he soon lost track of how many times the strip of leather and metal cracked across his back and shoulders. He thought he might have screamed some more but the rushing in his ears drowned it out. Finally, his father's anger was spent, or his arm just got tired; either way the vicious beating stopped.

"Get him down and tend to him, Woman." The captain ordered sourly. "And no food for either of you for the rest of the day."

He felt gentle hands lifting him from the hook and the ropes were cut away from numb wrists that the little boy dimly noticed were bleeding, where he had struggled to free himself.

"It'll be okay sweetie." His mother crooned tearfully. "Don't cry. I'll fix you right up."

Flam could feel the tears still flowing down his cheeks but he didn't want to make his momma feel worse than she already did so he sniffed and rubbed them away with fingers that tingled with the return of normal blood flow.

"I'm not crying, Momma. I just got something in my eyes." He protested shakily.

Momma laughed a little even as her own tears spilled over. "Right, my mistake. Big boys don't cry I guess."

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>"Stay in the hold until the storm is over, okay?" Momma smiled and gave five year old Cutty Flam a hug that she held for longer than the little boy was used to enduring. The active child soon started to squirm.<p>

"Okay." He said as she finally pulled back to look at him. He didn't like how sad she looked. His momma had been acting strange for a few months. She didn't play with him anymore and she always seemed so sad.

He guessed she had a good reason to be sad. His father's temper had grown even more violent and the little boy rarely managed to go more than a day or two without incurring the man's wrath for one thing or another; but his mother had it even worse. She wasn't even allowed to leave the ship anymore when they stopped on islands, because his father didn't want anyone to see her bruises.

"I love you." Momma smiled at him. "Never forget that, no matter what else happens. I love you."

Flam's brow furrowed in confusion but he nodded. "I love you too." He replied with a smile that he reserved only for her.

"Be a good boy." She called out as she headed for the hatch that led up onto the rain soaked deck and Flam couldn't figure out why but it felt like a goodbye.

The hatch banged shut and for some reason the little boy felt tears welling up in his eyes.

"It's dusty down here." He told the stale air as he rubbed his eyes, because he never cried anymore.

When the storm had blown itself out, he climbed out onto the deck and found his father standing at the railing; with a grim expression and one Momma's hair ribbons crushed in his huge hand.

Momma was gone.

* * *

><p>"FLAM! BOY!" The infuriated voice of his father cut through the eight year old's thoughts as he was busy rebuilding the cook's cabinets that had been half destroyed when a brawl broke out over dinner the night before. The child had a talent for fixing things almost as impressive as his talent for breaking them. His makeshift repairs weren't pretty but they worked well enough and being even slightly useful had quieted most of his father's complaints about him remaining aboard the ship.<p>

Still, it was never good when he heard his name yelled in that tone of voice.

"WHAT!?" He yelled back; pushing his goggles up onto the top of his head as he stood and headed out onto the deck.

His father glowered at the rudeness but the child had long since ceased to care about the man's temper. It didn't matter if he was polite or not; his father would find some excuse to hit him anyway so there was no point in trying to be nice to the man.

The man cuffed him on the side of the head hard enough to make his ears ring. "Watch your tongue if you want to keep it, Brat."

Flam refused to give in to the urge to rub his aching head; instead choosing to cross his arms and glare up at his father. "What, Sir?" He said, only slightly more civil with his tone.

"I got a job for you." The man said, after taking a moment to decide whether it was worth smacking his son again and finally deciding it wasn't. "Need you to test the port side life boat. The last storm bashed it against the side and it needs to be put in the water to check it for leaks."

Flam looked at the tiny dinghy curiously. It didn't look damaged at all to him. "Why me?" He asked before he could think better of it, which bought him another cuff to his ear.

"You gonna argue with me?!" The older man reached out to grab the boy, but only caught hold of his yellow shirt.

The blue haired child's arms went up and he slipped out of the open shirt with ease; darting away in only his tight fitting swimsuit. The older man was too slow to catch him but the boy had been snagged by belt loops and shirt collars too many times over the years and had developed a rather strong dislike for any clothing his father could use to hold him. It infuriated the older pirate but, as long as he didn't get the crew involved, it usually gave the boy a chance to let the man cool off before he took whatever punishment his father deemed appropriate. He'd be beaten either way, most likely, but it wasn't as bad if the anger wasn't fresh in his father's mind.

"Catch him, you idiots! Don't just stand around!"

Flam cursed. The old man must be really mad to call the crew into their family dispute so quickly. He was in for it if they caught him. He ducked and rolled between the legs of one of the men coming towards him and then had to jump over another pair of pirates that attempted to dive on him. Three more men appeared in his path and he turned sharply to avoid their grasping hands. He glanced back at them to see how close they were. That was a mistake.

"Ooph!" He crashed into something unyielding and felt a huge hand catch him by the throat and lift him up until he was eye to eye with his captor. Flam struggled to breathe and beat at the muscular arm but it was futile. His father held him in an iron grip.

"I was going to make it look like an accident." The man said grimly and the little boy's blood ran cold at the implications of that statement. "But I don't really guess it matters."

The man pulled back his other fist and punched the dangling child in the face before throwing the small body into the lifeboat he had ordered the boy to test. He dropped the garish yellow shirt in as well and then cut the lines securing the tiny boat to the ship.

Flam was just beginning to sit up dizzily and he yelped in alarm as the boat dropped twenty feet before splashing down into the water. He slammed his head on the bottom of the boat at the sudden impact and for a moment he just laid there stunned.

Then he felt water lapping at his hair.

The child sat up in a panic and began to search the small boat for the leak that had allowed so much water in so fast.

"There!" He pressed one of his hands over what appeared to be a bullet hole in the bottom of the tiny boat and hurriedly dug through the odds and ends that had been tossed into the rarely used little boat with his free hand. It was mostly garbage and broken bottles but he at last managed to come up with a small square of thin sheet metal and some bent and rusty nails. A broken oar served as a hammer and he worked as fast as he could to apply his emergency patch. Even working as quickly as he could, there was still almost eight inches of water in the dinghy by the time he was satisfied that he'd slowed the leak sufficiently. The frantic child then began bailing with a broken bottle in each hand.

When he had removed all but an inch or so of the sea water, he collapsed in exhaustion on the single bench and looked around. His father's ship was nowhere in sight.

Cutty Flam was alone.

* * *

><p>The little boat was still leaking, but with regular bailing she stayed afloat through the long dark night. Flam then had to figure out a way to get moving. He had most of one oar but he wasn't strong enough to row for very long.<p>

"I need a sail." He mumbled thoughtfully. His eyes lit up as he spotted his shirt wadded up under the bench seat and several small scraps of rope scattered among the refuse. He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and got to work.

By midday he had fashioned a small crude sail and the little dinghy was being pushed along by the breeze. Without a log pose, the boy knew the chances of him actually getting to an island were pretty slim but at least it felt like there was hope so long as he was moving.

* * *

><p>When he first spotted the city rising out of the sea, the boy thought the last few days without food or water had gotten to him but the image didn't waver as he got closer and he felt a swell of real hope in his heart as he realized he was actually going to survive.<p>

That hope lasted until a huge form rose from the waves beside him.

"S-Sea king!" He gaped, but the beast didn't even seem to notice him at all.

Flam had only a moment to grab onto the makeshift mast before the oblivious creature's massive tail lifted up beneath his tiny boat and sent it flying through the air. When it hit the water, the child was thrown from the boat as the mast broke off in his arms.

That was just as well, because a moment later the rest of the boat was little more than kindling as the creature's tail crashed back down on top of it.

Flam wasted no time in swimming towards the island in the distance. He swam until his legs went numb, pushing the wooden oar before him and using it to help him stay afloat. He was grateful that he didn't wear a bunch of heavy clothes because they certainly would have dragged him down.

It felt like hours before his bare feet hit something solid and he was able to drag himself up onto dry ground. He fell asleep as soon as he was pretty sure the sea couldn't reach him.

* * *

><p>The boy woke up with the sun in his eyes and sat up wearily. He noticed he was still clutching the broken mast of his little ship and forced his stiff fingers to release it, before untying his shirt from its place as the sail and putting the battered garment back on to cover the sun burn he could feel on his shoulders.<p>

He looked around and spotted a rusty looking spigot nearby, rushing over to it and struggling to turn it on. It was stuck tight but he found a bent piece of pipe that served him as a wrench and he finally managed to get the knob to turn. The water flowed out brown at first but it cleared up after only a few moments and the dehydrated child drank his fill eagerly.

Only when he had finished taking care of that pressing need, did the boy really look around to see where he had ended up.

He seemed to have washed up on a scrap pile. Broken ships and parts of unidentifiable wreckage were strewn everywhere he looked. A city towered in the background when he turned his eyes away from the sea, but it didn't look to be in much better shape than the dump he was currently standing in.

A splash distracted him from his perusing of his surroundings and he glanced out to sea. His eyes narrowed in anger as he spotted the very same monster that had trashed his dinghy, swimming around about a hundred feet from the shore.

"Hey! Watch where you're going next time! Stupid!" He yelled at it, shaking his fist in the air.

The creature seemed utterly oblivious to his ranting and that only served to make the child more furious. He needed to teach that big stupid sea king a lesson. The boy glanced around for ideas and spotted some cannon balls half buried in the rubble nearby.

In no time at all, he had collected an odd assortment of junk and the discarded child began to build a cannon that would hopefully blow that monster out of the water.

Yeah, he'd show that stupid thing that it wasn't so easy to get rid of Cutty Flam. He rubbed his eyes and grumbled about the salty air getting in them. He'd show everyone that he wasn't trash to be thrown away.

Someday he was going to be something super!

* * *

><p>Franky shook himself free of the memories and finally turned his gaze back to his captain; lifting his sunglasses up as he spoke so he could look the dark haired boy in the eyes. "We don't want anything to do with them." He announced firmly, expecting questions or protests from the hyperactive young man.<p>

Instead, Luffy merely pinned him with a long searching look and then glanced back at the ship that was nearly upon them. There was a large man with blue hair that was starting to turn gray, standing on the deck and clearly preparing to hail them. The rubber teen frowned thoughtfully.

"Luffy." Franky said with just a hint of suppressed emotion in his voice. "Trust me. Let's go."

Luffy paused for only a moment more before nodding decisively and turning his back on the approaching ship. "Prepare to Coup De Burst!" He ordered with a grin.

His crew scrambled to obey; furling the sails and tying down loose objects. Franky gripped the helm nervously. Sunny was already fueled up so it was just a matter of waiting for the last few things to be secured.

The cyborg stood tall, staring across the strip of sea as the man he hadn't seen in decades began to shout. More pirates boiled onto the deck of the other ship; all armed to the teeth. It had been intended to be an ambush; Franky realized with a scowl. That fit in with his memories all too well.

For just a moment, the older blue haired man met his eyes across the shrinking distance between their ships and Franky could have sworn he saw a flicker of shocked recognition there.

"Franky!" Nami called out sharply. "We're ready! Now!"

The shipwright offered his scowling father a humorless grin; before he turned his back on the man who had turned his back on him more than twenty years before. "Coup De Burst!"

His dream ship launched away as the first of his father's crew were preparing to swing aboard.

"Waahooo!" Luffy crowed as he hung onto the yardarm with one hand and his hat with the other.

They landed with a splash and the crew hurried to get the ship underway again. Only once they were sailing smoothly, did the young captain approach his cyborg nakama.

"Franky." He called out evenly, looking unusually serious as he eyed his shipwright from under the brim of his worn straw hat.

"What, Luffy?" Franky asked warily; suspecting that now the captain would want an explanation.

Luffy eyed the larger man for long enough to make the cyborg shift uncomfortably. Finally, he seemed to reach some sort of decision. "You okay?" The rubber man asked thoughtfully; cutting to the heart of the matter without preamble.

Taken aback by the simple question, the cyborg thought about it for a few seconds. He let his gaze wander over the amazing ship he had created. His eyes lingering on each member of this strange little group that had chosen to adopt him for reasons he sometimes still couldn't fathom. He grinned; happy tears prickling in his eyes from the salty spray.

"Are you kidding? I'm SUPER today!" He announced with his trademark pose and a little dance for good measure. "SUPER! OW! YEAH!"

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: Whew! Eight down! One to go! Please tell me what you think of Franky's chapter. I feel SUPER mean for writing it that way, but a parent who would throw their own child away without a second thought struck me as the type that would also be abusive. I also thought it would be interesting to explore the fact that Franky's pirate parents could possibly still be alive and somewhere in the new world. They've had plenty of time to get there after all. Also, just to be clear; Franky isn't afraid of his father. He just doesn't want anything to do with the man. That's why he reacted the way he did. Let me know if that came across correctly, please. Next Chapter: Brook! His chapter is going to be set in the same head canon as my two Brook-centric fics; Song of Flesh and Song of Bone. Of course it will be set before Song of Flesh so you don't actually have to read them first but it will give you something to tide you over for a little while until I get our favorite skeleton's chapter finished. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	9. Chapter Nine: Brook

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay! Brook gave me trouble and then I had no internet to speak of for a week. Now I will be going on vacation starting tomorrow and will have no internet then for another week. Therefore I am posting this chapter with only minimal proofreading. Please let me know if you catch any errors! Thanks! Now, Brook's backstory is a bit lighter in mood than some of the others because I set it before my story Song of Flesh. Still, I think it turned out okay and I hope you enjoy it. Please review and let me know what you think.

Ah and according to Oda, Brook would be Austrian so there is a bit of German in this. Thanks to Yume111 for correcting my Austrian. I have changed Brook's childhood nickname to better reflect his nationality. Opa means grandpa and Shatzerl (pronounced shutsal) means little treasure. I will be correcting it in my other two Brook fics shortly. Also editing to fix a glaring typo that was pointed out to me by a most kind reviewer. On with the fic!

Chapter Nine - Brook: Before the Fog

Brook sat in the crow's nest, looking out over the foggy sea as he hummed softly to himself. The ship below was too silent for his taste but he wouldn't complain about taking his turn at watch. He was certainly old enough to pull his own weight.

"Although, I don't weigh much; since I am all bones! Yohoho!" He chuckled at his little joke, filling the silence with his own voice to ease his discomfort.

It wasn't just the silence or the fog either. He felt as if he had forgotten something and he couldn't remember what it was for the life of him; not that he was alive to begin with. It wasn't the first time his memory had slipped, not by a long margin. He had once lost an entire decade while drifting in the Florian Triangle. That was precisely why the small lapses frightened him so much.

As much as he generally tried not to think about it; Brook knew he had gone a bit mad in his isolation. He'd been eccentric when he was alive but fifty years, with only his own voice and the ghosts of his past for company, had pushed him over the edge and it had not been easy to climb back up.

Some days his grip on reality was tenuous still. There were mornings when he got confused which ship he was on. Days when he would think of something he needed to tell someone; only to suddenly remember that the person he was thinking of was long dead, before his current travelling companions had even been born. It was easier to push such distressing thoughts away during the day, with his nakama laughing and running around with their usual energy, but he still sometimes wondered if any of it was real.

This second chance still felt like a dream and on his worst days he questioned if it was just that. Perhaps he had finally let go of reality all together and he'd never left the fog at all. The two years they had spent apart had done nothing for his mental health. Real or not, being separated from his new nakama had been just as painful as losing the Rumbar Pirates and the loneliness had gnawed at him even as nameless fans screamed for his music.

He picked up his violin and began to play quietly, needing the comfort the familiar activity provided but trying not to disturb his sleeping nakama. The tune was something from another lifetime and he let himself be distracted from the gnawing loneliness; losing himself in the memories that it invoked.

* * *

><p>"Opa! Opa! Look!" The gangly four year old shouted happily as he ran up to his grandfather.<p>

"What is it, Shatzerl?" The elderly man smiled down at his only grandchild fondly.

"Frederic-san says he'll start teaching me the violin now!" He held up the black case his music tutor had given him with pride.

"Ah, that's wonderful...but I thought he was teaching you to sing and play piano?" That was what he was paying the man for. He had shown the dark haired child the basics himself but at just three years old, Brook had displayed a natural talent that rapidly outstripped his own rudimentary skill with instruments, so a proper teacher had been found for him.

"He is, but he says I can try other instruments too, so long as I keep practicing the piano." The tall child grinned widely. He had begged for weeks to try something other than the piano. He loved the beautiful sounds he could make with the polished ivory keys, but he didn't like having to sit still while he played. Even more than that, he hated the feeling of incompleteness that came over him when he had to close the wooden lid and go home.

With a little practice he'd have music he could take with him wherever he went.

His Opa reached down and ruffled his unruly curls affectionately. "I see. You are going to be quite the musician someday. Is that right Shatzerl?"

Brook nodded eagerly. "I'm going to make the most wonderful music in the world."

* * *

><p>Five year old Brook peered through the curtains excitedly. He'd been practicing for almost two whole years, which seemed like a very long time to the lanky energetic child. Now he was finally going to perform for the first time.<p>

He heard his name called and picked up his violin and bow with long fingered hands as the curtain rose in front of him. The stage lights were blinding and he blinked a few times before he could see anything past them. His stomach did somersaults as he raised the instrument to his shoulder and placed the bow to the strings.

His music tutor had assigned him a simple classical piece for the recital but the precocious boy had found the predictable cascade of notes to be utterly lacking something he couldn't identify. His tutor had made him practice the string of notes and rests until he could do it without looking at the sheet music at all. Brook could play the beginner piece perfectly but it didn't evoke the emotions that he felt when he played for his Opa in the evenings or improvised his own tunes as he practiced.

His tutor demanded perfection from his most gifted student. However, for the prodigy music wasn't about perfection. Music was about emotion, about moving people. The piece he was told to play couldn't even move him, much less anyone else; no matter how hard he tried to embrace it.

So, Brook had made a secret and slightly terrifying decision and now was the moment of truth. He could let the notes that had been drilled into his head emerge and his tutor would praise him for a flawless performance...

Or he could let the music flow from his soul.

He spotted his grandfather sitting in the front row; smiling with pride even before the first sound could emerge from the taut strings. Brook smiled back and closed his eyes in concentration.

The first note trembled like the cry of a lost child before it was followed by soothing tones like a lullaby. Gradually the slow gentle pace picked up and the notes shifted until it became something playful and full of the innocent joy of childhood. The notes chased each other up and down the scale as if trying to catch up in a game of tag; darting and changing directions rapidly before shifting again into something slower but no less content. It created the impression of the exhausted peace of a summer afternoon after a morning of fun. The music meandered at that pace for a time; the long walk home with friends and family. Finally, the child moved back into the sweet lullaby, letting it trail off at last with a softly played note that hung in the air for a long time as he finally lowered the bow to his side.

Brook held his breath as he waited for his teacher to come out and scold him. The silence seemed to drag on for an eternity as the audience was distressingly quiet in the wake of his composition. He was ready to turn away and slink back behind the curtain. They felt nothing. He had failed.

He bowed quickly, wanting to escape the crushing sense of disappointment welling up in him. The silence erupted just as he began to move, as if his motion had broken a spell he wasn't aware of casting. Dark eyes shot open in shock as he straightened, the lights once again blinding him momentarily as his mind struggled to register the sound washing over him. As his vision focused he saw the crowded auditorium was full of people on their feet and applauding wildly. Smiling, the boy sought out his Opa's face but the old man wasn't where he had last seen him.

Brook was stricken with a sinking feeling. What if Opa hadn't liked it? Sure, it was nice that all these strangers were clapping for his music but if the only person he cared for in the world had walked out...then it was empty noise.

He was so lost in his thoughts that the arms that wrapped around his shoulders came as a shock to the tall child. He startled and nearly dropped his violin before he realized the smiling face attached to those arms was as familiar to him as his own long features.

"Opa!" He felt the grin spread across his face at the sight of the wrinkled old man's smile and the tears in his eyes.

"That was beautiful, Shatzerl!" The older man crowed with obvious pride. "Did you write it yourself?"

Brook nodded, unable to speak for a moment as relief had stolen his breath.

"Ah, you are such a talented boy! Does it have a title?"

Brook smiled sheepishly and shook his head of black curls. "Not really, Opa."

The old man smiled fondly and ruffled the untameable hair as he tugged the child off the stage as the applause had finally died down. "I'm sure you'll think of one for it eventually." He laughed. "Now, I believe this calls for a celebration."

* * *

><p>Brook let the last note, of the first piece of music he ever wrote, die away as he recalled the events of so many decades ago with perfect clarity. He could still remember the way his Opa smiled at him; a special smile that only he could evoke in the generally cheerful man. If he thought about it he could almost hear the elderly man's voice, telling him vivid stories of the mother and father who had died before he was old enough to know them at all.<p>

"And yet I cannot recall what Sanji-san made for breakfast yesterday." The old skeleton laughed at himself bitterly. "If he made breakfast..." He mumbled as his empty gaze was drawn back to the fog outside the window, doubts and voices pulling at him once again now that he'd let the music stop for a moment.

"BROOK!" A loud voice startled him nearly out of his skin, which was okay since he had no skin anyway, and he pushed open the window and peered down at the deck curiously.

"Luffy-san?" He called down to the boy he could not quite see through the swirls of fog on the deck.

"Come down!" The captain ordered happily.

Brook hesitated for only a moment in his confusion before he leapt lightly from the crow's nest and ran down the rigging before jumping easily to the grassy deck.

"Luffy-san, what...?" The skeleton trailed off as he finally noticed what the fog had hidden from him when he was above.

A picnic had been laid out on the grass and all of his nakama were gathered around it with smiles of various degrees of intensity. Luffy's was blinding as always; a grin only a rubber face could accomplish. Meanwhile Robin's smile was reserved and Zoro's was only a smirk.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Luffy crowed with a giggle. The sentiment was echoed by several others.

If Brook had any eyelids left he would have blinked stupidly in shock but since he had none he had to settle for merely dropping his jaw and staring blankly at his crew and the large cake Sanji was holding.

"My...is it my birthday?" The nine foot tall skeleton finally managed to stammer out his response weakly.

Robin nodded. "Mm-hm, at least if the date you gave in your final Soul King interview was correct."

Brook honestly didn't remember any interview but he wasn't about to mention that lapse. It didn't matter anyway; not when his nakama were with him. If they said it was his birthday, he wasn't about to argue the fact.

"Ah, thank you, everyone!" He said sincerely; all his grim thoughts pushed aside by the thoughtfulness of these people.

He couldn't worry too much about being insane, not on a crew full of dreamers and lunatics. These incredibly strong, incredibly young people; who had taken a dead man into their midst and taught him how to live again. Eight people who would throw a birthday party outdoors in the middle of a foggy night.

"I didn't have ninety-one candles." The blonde cook said gruffly as he set the delicious looking cake down on the already loaded picnic blanket.

Brook chuckled, the shock wearing off. "Ah, it's quite fine Sanji-san. So many candles would likely have burned my eyebrows off anyway...except I have no eyebrows! Yohohoho!"

The chef rolled his visible eye but grinned and stuck his lighter in the middle of the cake to substitute for the missing candles when it came time for the lanky musician to make a wish.

Brook looked around as the party got underway around him, food flying into the mouth of their bottomless captain and the noise of the celebration washing over his senses like a soothing balm.

He stood with a flourish. "Everyone! Thank you so much!" He bowed theatrically and his violin was in his bony hands when he rose again to his imposing height. "Now, I shall play a song for you all in order to express my gratitude. Yohoho." In his heart he smiled and he knew he nakama could tell despite the rigidity of his facial features. "I call it, Rhapsody of Life."

He began to play with that first plaintive cry of the strings before the lullaby soothed away all his childhood fears and allowed him to bask in the joy that only someone who has truly been loved unconditionally can know. He was vaguely aware of the party atmosphere growing still around him as his nakama settled in to listen. When he reached the original ending of the piece, he could not help but continue; playing music he had never shared with anyone alive. Over the years the familiar music had grown and evolved; new passages added for every milestone in his life.

There was the stuffy refrain that reminded him of his years at boarding school, the adventurous dance of his mercenary years and the stately, yet faintly mocking waltz of court politics. Then came the brief struggle of his exile and dishonor before the long and joyous memory of the first pirate crew to take him in. A single line from Bink's Sake was played bittersweet for the death of Captain Yorki and his reluctant acceptance of his new role as captain. Another joyful interlude, all too brief; before the almost painful discord of battle and the slow march of a funeral dirge that gradually shifted into something melancholy and lonely. It dragged on, faltering at times so that the listener might think the piece was ended before picking up again. The endless notes were blurred like the fog that still swirled around them but there were bright bits that would surface in the gloomy array of sounds before the loneliness would shove them back down once more. Endless maddening gloom turned to fear and despair with the loss of his shadow, but that despair fueled a new edge of desperation that cut through the sorrow and soon overpowered even the madness that had grown more prevalent over the long and somber section of the piece.

Finally, joy broke through once more and the despair and sorrow and madness were forced to fade away under the onslaught of an unstoppable force that drew the listener in and captivated them with the strength and energy it conveyed. This new tune brought strength and excitement and madness of its own but there was also laughter and peace and love worked into the notes that could still be felt even as the lanky musician finally let the last notes fade out with a lingering sense of hope for more to come.

Brook was knocked back by a furry projectile that turned out to Chopper; the little reindeer crying but smiling as he clung to the tall man's ribcage in determined affection. A huge metal hand patted him on the shoulder as Franky loudly complained about something in his eyes before he scooped the skeleton and the tiny reindeer up in a massive hug that should have been far more uncomfortable than it was, considering one of the participants was all bones and another was more than half metal.

"Shishishi!" Luffy chuckled to see his nakama so happy. "Birthday hugs!" He announced with a note of command in his happy-go-lucky tone.

Usopp shrugged and joined the hug in progress, knowing that fighting Luffy's will was often painful and not worth the trouble. Sanji balked until Nami rolled her eyes and grabbed him by his elbow to pull him into the pile of Strawhats that was growing steadily around the stunned musician. Then, the cook was too blinded by the hearts in his eyes to worry about the fact that he wasn't just hugging his beloved Nami-swan. Robin chuckled and walked calmly into the embrace as Franky moved a steel arm in order to allow her a space.

Zoro narrowed his eye and huffed, crossing his arms stubbornly and holding his ground as Usopp called out for him to come on. His eye twitched when Nami threatened to raise his debt but he still held back from being sucked into the laughing, crying, snuggling pile of pirates. That stubbornness was overruled seconds later, when Luffy grinned at his first mate meaningfully and uttered two dreaded words.

"Captain's orders!" The rubber man laughed and dragged the scowling, but no longer resisting, Swordsman forcefully into the jumbled group hug; before wrapping his rubber arms impossibly around all eight of them as if he'd never let them go.

Brook felt tears welling up in eyes he no longer possessed as he was surrounded by his precious nakama and his captain. His earlier worries and doubts were nearly forgotten. There was no way his mind had conjured up this crew, he could barely fathom how such a perfect group of misfits had come to exist in the first place.

Although, the answer to that was actually quite easy; it even had a name: Luffy.

"Ah, my heart is so full of happiness it could burst!" He announced tearfully. "Except of course I have no heart! Yohohoho! Skull Joke!"

The sun was beginning to rise; burning away the fog as they separated their tangle of limbs with some difficulty.

* * *

><p>They sailed on through the New World. It didn't matter that Brook sometimes lost track of where he was, because that happened to Zoro often enough that the skeleton's lapses were barely noticed. It didn't matter that he forgot it was impolite to request to see the panties of every woman he met, because Sanji was generally trying to accomplish the same goal without being so straightforward about it so in a way at least Nami and Robin seemed relieved that their oldest nakama could be dissuaded from pestering them with a simple "no" or at worst a blow to his afro-covered head. Oh and even if he sometimes held conversations with people who weren't really there it hardly raised eyebrows among the crew. Usopp was often enough found talking to himself that no one paid any mind to either of them. Even the rare occasions when it bothered him that he was only bones, when he questioned his humanity; Franky or Chopper were always around to help him remember that human wasn't about what you were made of, but rather who you were in the depths of your soul.<p>

Brook decided that none of it bothered him too much in the end. He might be going senile or he might be slightly cracked (his skull certainly was that) but at least he had the excuse that he was old and sort of dead.

His nakama were all a little insane and made no excuses for it; and that was precisely why he loved them so much.

The End!

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><p>Author's Notes: It's done! Woo! I will be adding bonus chapters based off of these (EDIT: First one should be up today). I have a couple written already, but the base set of stories is done so I am marking it complete. Thank you all for reading and I look forward to seeing what you think of this final chapter. Please review!<p> 


	10. Chapter Ten: Bonus One

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Notes: Here is the first of the promised bonus chapters. These won't all have the same format as the previous chapters (with the frame story and the flashback in the middle), though this one does actually keep that format. This features Zoro and his brain damaged navigationally challenged self. The frame story picks up immediately after the events at the end of his chapter of this fic and the flashback...well, you'll have to read to find out. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to hearing what you think. Please review. Thanks.

Bonus Chapter Ten - Zoro: Home Sweet Sunny

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><p>Zoro escaped to the crow's nest as soon as the crew made it back to the Sunny and got under way. He settled down to meditate after blocking the trap door with one of his larger weights to ensure most of the others would have to leave him alone. Luffy could get through it, but Luffy could get through just about any obstacle so trying to keep him out was a waste of energy. Zoro just hoped his captain would be distracted enough to not come looking for him. The only other members of the crew strong enough to get in easily were Franky, who rarely came up to the crow's nest unless he had watch, and the stupid cook, who would hopefully be busy organizing the supplies and making dinner.<p>

It took him about an hour to settle his emotions and memories back into something vaguely resembling his usual control; then he got up to do some light training. He was somewhere around a thousand pushups when he started to let his mind wander again.

His navigational issues were a nearly constant source of frustration for the stoic swordsman and adding them to thoughts of his childhood had set him off in a way that hadn't happened in years. Of course, the loss of control had aggravated him further. He could barely concentrate when he got back to the ship which is why he had ended up in the weight room, slash watch post.

The crow's nest was easily the room on the Sunny where he had spent the most time and he had a great excuse for that fact, since Franky had set it up for training and the swordsman did more of that than anyone else aboard. However, that wasn't what had drawn the green haired man to the place to begin with.

He could still vividly recall his first glimpse of the Thousand Sunny.

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><p>When Iceburg had revealed the large and cheerfully painted ship, the others reacted with varying levels of awe and excitement. Zoro took one look at the large vessel and felt his stomach twist in dread.<p>

Navigating the Going Merry had been easy enough. Even he couldn't get turned around for more than a moment or two on the tiny caravel. No one had ever seemed to notice his occasional hesitation as he got his bearings before heading for the galley or below deck.

This new ship was massive by comparison and it was going to take him forever to find anything. Someone was bound to question him about it.

Still, he forced some enthusiasm for Luffy's sake as he followed his nakama up the gangplank. The grass on the deck was an odd touch but it would be good for sleeping on. That could be handy if he couldn't find his bunk. High on the mast was a bright yellow room which he assumed was intended to be the crow's nest; though he'd never seen one enclosed that way. There were doors and hatches that led deeper into the ship but he didn't dare explore further just yet.

He'd look around after everyone else went to sleep. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

* * *

><p>It was worse than he thought.<p>

Zoro groaned as he ended up in the galley instead of the men's quarters for the fourth time in less than an hour. Thankfully, it was still early enough that the pervy cook wasn't yet up to make breakfast.

The swordsman had taken the first watch and had been thrilled to find out the domed crow's nest was also set up to be used as a weight room and training space. That was great because he'd quickly discovered over the course of the day that he could easily see the bright yellow and red thing from anywhere on deck. It became his anchor point. If he got turned around, which happened often, he'd follow that landmark back to the mast and start again.

Chopper had asked him about the frequent backtracking before dinner. Zoro had claimed it was training and the naive reindeer hadn't questioned him further. In a way it wasn't even a lie. Unfortunately he was trying to train his brain to process information that it blatantly refused to interpret correctly. Still, the stubborn swordsman was never one to give up.

After Robin relieved him at midnight, the green haired man had set out to find some way of navigating the winding corridors and many rooms of his new home. His nakama might tease him for getting turned around in unfamiliar cities, but it wasn't something that was terribly unusual; lots of people had that sort of trouble. Only rare people like the witch could go somewhere they had never been and not make the occasional wrong turn. However, the others would definitely figure out something was seriously wrong with him if he never figured out how to find the freaking bathroom on their own ship.

Unfortunately, he'd been wandering for hours and had yet to find any reliable method of getting where he wanted to go. Following the walls took too long and sent him all over the deck of the ship on unnecessary detours that would attract questions. The doors all looked the same too and there were no signs to tell what each room was for without looking inside. Below decks was worse, with ladders and hatches that were even harder to make sense of than the rooms above.

He finally gave up for the night after he had a shoe thrown at him by a bleary eyed Nami when he accidentally opened the door to the girl's room. Upon making it back to the middle of the grassy deck; the lost swordsman flopped down near the railing in frustration and closed his eyes to grab a couple hours sleep before dawn.

* * *

><p>A week later, Zoro was still struggling.<p>

Thankfully, his misguided wanderings had so far elicited no comments because most of the crew was still exploring the ship as well. It was huge and had all sorts of secrets built in. He was sure that was great for everyone else, but it was giving him a headache.

He spent his days training in the crow's nest or napping on deck. The naps got him yelled at for laziness by the orange haired witch but he brushed that off as easily as he did the attempted kicks from the curlybrowed idiot, when the moron tried to back up the woman's screeching.

The sleep was needed because he had spent a large portion of every night silently exploring the ship. He had made it to the men's quarters to sleep only twice since they'd set out from Water 7. The other nights had been spent out under the stars on the lawn; which had garnered him some funny looks from the early risers among the crew when it poured rain one night.

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><p>After two weeks had passed, Zoro was beginning to think his efforts were in vain. The swordsman had given up his nightly explorations as a fruitless exercise. He had managed to avoid suspicion by following others to meals and spending the majority of the rest of his day in the crow's nest. On the plus side, he'd done a lot of extra training.<p>

On the downside, it took him half an hour at least to find the bathroom; every freaking time.

The swordsman was stretched out on the deck, attempting to catch an afternoon nap; when yelling disturbed his thoughts.

"I said OUT! Dinner will be ready in an hour!" The cook's shouts were punctuated with the sound of shoes hitting rubbery flesh and the crunch of wood as a kick missed and took a chunk out of the edge of the galley door.

"But Sanji...!" Luffy whined pathetically.

"Oi! Don't break my ship!" Franky shouted at both of the culprits; which earned him a glare from the cook and a sheepish look from the captain.

The galley door slammed closed and Luffy slumped in momentary defeat before Usopp managed to lure him into a distracting game of tag.

Franky eyed the dented door and frowned before stomping off to finish another project he had been working on.

Zoro closed his eye again and dozed off without giving the incident further thought.

* * *

><p>"Robin-chwan! Nami-swan! Your lovingly prepared meal is ready!" The perverted cook's voice floated over the deck at its most sickeningly sweet, before it returned to his usual tone as he continued. "The rest of you idiots can come eat too!"<p>

Zoro stretched and made his way to his feet; glancing around for someone to trail into the galley. Instead, his eye caught on the dented door, the missing chunk of wood setting it apart from the other doors on the deck. He hesitated until everyone had vanished into the dining area before he moved.

The navigationally challenged man was careful not to take his gaze off the damaged wooden boards until he had his hand on the door handle. He suppressed a grin of victory as he opened the door to reveal his nakama already at the table.

The green haired swordsman sat down to eat, but his mind was on this new discovery. He barely paid attention as he batted Luffy's thieving hands away on reflex chewing thoughtfully. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before.

When he'd first discovered his problem, Doctor Shen had hung pictures on all the doors in his home. As long as he knew which door had which picture, and he kept his eye on the picture he wanted when he was moving, he couldn't get lost. Likewise, his sensei had provided colored marks for him to follow in the dojo; when he had finally, reluctantly, explained to the sword master that his continual tardiness to lessons wasn't because he was lazy or rebellious. It was because he couldn't find the training hall.

He hadn't had a permanent home since, at least not one big enough to need such marks, but he realized they would solve a lot of his troubles.

He was pulled from his memories as Franky loudly complained about the damage to his ship and warned the captain and cook not to do it again.

"I'll fix it after dinner, but next time be more careful. Breaking my ship is definitely not SUPER."

Zoro's good mood fell flat. He should have considered that. Now he had a new problem. He had to find a way of marking the doors with some system he could follow, but it had to be something their new shipwright wouldn't feel the need to fix or attempt to beat the crap out of him for.

He scowled and stabbed Luffy's reaching hand with his fork grouchily. This was going to require more thought.

* * *

><p>Zoro scratched a thin line into the newly repaired galley door the next night and then walked away from it to the base of the mast before turning back to look for the small mark.<p>

He grimaced as he couldn't see the mark on any of the doors. It was too small, especially at night. Tiredly he trudged over and checked the first door he came to, pulling it open just a crack before shutting it hastily as he realized he had actually managed to find the men's quarters for once and he didn't want to wake his sleeping crewmates.

The swordsman trailed his hand along the wall until he reached the next door, which turned out to be the bathroom. He took advantage of that find and then continued his search. Moving on he came to the stairs and followed them up and the railing around until he came to the next door; which was locked, meaning it was the women's room. He kept on moving around the perimeter of the lawn deck until he finally reached the door inscribed with the tiny mark he had made earlier. He sighed in relief as he knew he had found the galley again. He was using the kitchen for his experiment because it was one of the only places fairly certain to be unoccupied in the middle of the night. The only way anyone would be in there would be if Luffy tried to sneak a midnight snack, but the captain was hardly quiet. Zoro was fairly sure he'd hear the rubber man long before he got caught.

'Maybe if I make the mark a little bigger...' The green haired man mused; scratching the wooden barrier with a knife he had borrowed from Usopp.

"Oi. Zoro-bro. What are you doing?" A somewhat stern voice from behind him froze the swordsman in place for a moment. How had he let Franky sneak up on him? Someone that big and half made of metal shouldn't be able to move that quietly.

The first mate turned around slowly, feigning his usual calm as he looked at the curious and clearly unhappy shipwright. "I'm...uh...getting some sake while the stupid cook isn't around to cause a fuss." He forced a smirk to support his story.

The cyborg lifted his sunglasses and eyed the younger man doubtfully. "Right...so what does that have to do with vandalizing my ship?" He asked slowly, his expression clearly telling the younger man that the explanation had better be good.

Zoro's facade fell. He sucked at lying anyway. Suddenly, all the weeks of sleep being grabbed at odd intervals on the noisy deck and his many hours spent fruitlessly trying to navigate the huge ship seemed to catch up to him all at once. He sagged back against the wall next to the kitchen door with a frustrated sigh, closing his eyes. He was caught; time to face it like a man.

"I was trying to mark the door." He explained tiredly.

"Huh?" The blue haired man blinked curiously, his anger fading at the genuine weariness in the young swordsman's confession. "Why?"

Zoro ran a hand through his hair and scowled. "So I can tell the rooms apart." He blurted, which seemed to only confuse the shipwright further.

Franky raised an eyebrow. "You...can't tell the doors apart?"

Zoro looked away, willing down the blush that was trying to heat his cheeks. "No, I can't." He admitted. "This thing is like a maze." He grumbled automatically.

Franky's eyes narrowed at the perceived insult to his ship but he could tell it was just an excuse; something almost reflexive to the green haired man. That deflection spoke of a deeper issue that Zoro clearly didn't want to share.

"It does have a lot more rooms than the Going Merry, I suppose." The shipwright finally said slowly; not missing how quickly the younger man latched onto the idea as Zoro looked up at him and nodded.

"Right." The swordsman said quickly. "I mean...anybody would get turned around."

"Sure. SUPER easy to get mixed up." The newest Strawhat agreed amiably; intelligent eyes still calculating as he watched his young crewmate. "So, any ideas that might help people find their way around more easily?"

Zoro's eyes lit up in hope but he was quick to cover his excitement with a shrug. "It might help if all the doors didn't look the same...or you could put up signs or numbers or something."

Franky considered the idea thoughtfully before nodding. "I'll see what I can do."

Zoro nodded, still slightly mortified that he'd had to confide even part of his problem to anyone. "Thanks. I'm...gonna go to bed then." He turned and started away, intent on locating his desired destination.

"Oi, Zoro-bro." The blue haired man's voice brought him to a halt after less than a dozen steps. "The room you want is that way."

Zoro couldn't fight the blush that rose as he turned around. He stomped over to where he thought Franky was pointing; only to come to a confused halt, staring into the aquarium bar.

He sighed as he felt the shipwright walk up behind him.

"I'll make you a deal." The older man offered evenly. "I won't tell anyone about...this; so long as I don't find out you've been vandalizing my ship...Ever Again. Deal?"

Zoro closed his eyes and nodded without turning around, not wanting the older pirate to see the blush he could feel burning his cheeks. "Deal."

"SUPER." The cyborg clapped the younger man on the back and then used the gesture to steer the swordsman to his destination without further attempts at verbal directions. "Now, go to sleep so I can get back to my watch." He opened the men's bunk room door and nudged the first mate man inside to ensure he didn't get turned around again.

Zoro let himself be guided silently; too tired to worry about his already bruised pride any more for the night. He looked around the room of mostly occupied box-like hammocks and yawned. He didn't even actually know which one was supposed to be his own in the nearly dark space; he'd only slept in the thing a couple of times anyway. The two empty bunks were his own and Franky's but he wasn't sure which was which. A moment later, his sleepy gaze caught on the couch by the wall and he made his way to it without so much as another glance at the hanging bunk beds.

He fell asleep almost at once.

* * *

><p>Zoro snorted at the fond but embarrassing memory as he wiped his face with a towel before he moved on to practicing his katas. Franky was a good guy. The cyborg hadn't ever said a word to anyone about his early issues navigating the ship, at least not as far as the first mate could tell.<p>

The swordsman had simply awakened the next morning to find that the talented shipwright had quietly attached numbers on the doorframes for each area on the ship. In just a few hours, Zoro had memorized which number corresponded with each room and he could get around the deck without too much excess wandering.

Even coming back after two years; it hadn't been overly hard to pick the knack back up.

Zoro could admit to himself that he still got turned around below decks, but he rarely needed to go down there alone anyway so he wasn't overly concerned about it.

A heavy thump against the trapdoor pulled the swordsman from his thoughts and his training.

"Zoro! Why is the door stuck?" Luffy's voice drifted up through the blocked hatch. "Hey! Sanji says dinner's ready and I can't eat until I get you to come down because you missed lunch!"

The first mate blinked. He hadn't realized so much time had passed. It had only been a little past ten when he'd locked himself in.

The trapdoor shuddered again as Luffy reinforced how serious the situation was. "Come on, Zoro! I'm hungry!"

The green haired man hurried over to the hatch and moved the barricade he had put in place, before Luffy could break through it. "Go tell that curlybrowed mother hen that I'll be down in a minute!" He growled as he jerked the door up and scowled down at his captain's grinning face. Just thinking about the annoying cook was enough to fracture the control he had regained over the course of the day and he took a couple deep breaths to calm his mind.

"Kay!" Luffy dropped from the rigging like a stone and bounced off to the galley, shouting. "Zoro's coming! Can I eat now!?"

Sighing as he realized that he had his emotional balance as steady as it was going to get without a long nap and a good fight; Zoro climbed most of the way down before he jumped to the deck. The perpetually lost man stood there for a moment, looking around to get his bearings. Finally, he locked his eye on the small number three beside the door to the galley and set out across the deck confidently.

* * *

><p>To be Continued...<p>

Author's Note: I hope you liked it. Franky is hard to write seriously but I have seen him show surprising empathy and restraint when dealing with people he cares for so I hope he doesn't seem out of character. I did my best. There is one more chapter that picks up after this one. I have already written it and just need to edit it a bit before I post it. It will not contain a flashback. Thank you for reading. Please review.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Bonus Two

Before They Were Pirates

Author's Notes: I had this all edited and ready to save and the internet ate my changes. Blargh! Anywho, here is the promised follow up chapter for Zoro's bonus. This one contains no flashback. Pardon me for breaking format but Sanji and Zoro refused to have this discussion interrupted. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think. On with the fic!

Chapter Eleven - Zoro Bonus Two: Intervention, Sanji Style.

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><p>Sanji took his foot off of Luffy's face as the door opened to reveal their missing first mate. "Now you can eat, Crappy Captain." He rolled his eyes and moved on to serving his lovely ladies; trying not to pay attention to the fact that Zoro looked only slightly less tense than he had when he rushed off after the fight that morning. It wasn't like he cared about the marimo or anything. In fact, he wouldn't have insisted Luffy go get the moron for dinner but he had a rule. No healthy member of the crew missed more than one meal in a day as long as he was the cook. Even volatile, antisocial mossheads had to eat.<p>

He had been unwillingly thinking about it much of the day but the cook still couldn't figure out what had happened during the battle with those marines. One minute he and the swordsman were just arguing like always and the next...the green haired man had just sort of snapped. Sanji was attacked by Zoro often enough to be something of an expert on the other man's fighting style and the attack that morning had been disturbing not entirely because it had happened during battle. That had actually happened before and they occasionally even did it on purpose to set enemies off guard; but the green haired man always maintained an edge of iron control in everything he did. Even when they were screaming at each other; even when he was utterly furious the first mate had control. When he attacked the blonde that morning that control had been hanging by a thread...and though Sanji had told himself he wouldn't ask about it; he'd had all day to mull it over and now he wasn't sure that was the safest option. He had no clue what had set the first mate off. What if it happened again? What if it had happened while they were fighting enemies that actually stood half a chance of injuring them? What if it happened in one of the ingrate's many arguments with Nami-swan?! It was an unsettling thought to have about a man who could cut a ship in half without breaking a sweat.

* * *

><p>Zoro took the last empty seat. It was the one beside Luffy, because no one in their right mind willingly sat next to their captain for a meal if there were other seats available, and dug into his food. Old memories were pushed to the back of his mind for the moment as he dove into the daily battle that was dinner with the bottomless pit he called captain. He wasn't overly hungry but he knew fuel was important to balance out all the exercise he did, so he ate mechanically.<p>

he was only about halfway through his first plateful when he caught the cook watching him. The green haired man glared back; the altercation from that morning rushing to the forefront of his mind and stealing his appetite. He poked at his food for another moment before taking a long drink from his mug; giving Luffy ample opportunity to clean what was left off his plate.

When he looked back, the infuriating blonde was frowning at him. "What are you looking at, Curlicue?" He snapped.

Sanji blinked, seemingly having been unaware that he was indeed staring. He recovered quickly. "Just wondering if you can live off sunlight like a real marimo." The blonde drawled; a comment on the green haired man's unusual lack of appetite.

"Not hungry, Dartboard." Zoro announced with a roll of his eyes.

"You're not?" Chopper's eyes widened at the highly unusual statement from the green haired man. Zoro usually ate more than anyone other than Luffy; all his training burned a lot of calories. The concerned little doctor hopped up from his seat to trot across the now mostly empty table and place a hoof on the swordsman's forehead. "Are you feeling alright? Maybe I should run some tests..."

Zoro brushed the touch off with a scowl and shoved himself to his feet. "I'm fine. I'm not sick and I'm not freaking hungry!" He growled. "Sheesh! Who needs a mother when they've got you two?" He stomped from the room and made his way to the mast before locating the door numbered one and retreating to the men's quarters. He headed straight to his couch and flopped onto it with a huff of frustration. If he was lucky he'd have a couple hours before anyone else came to bed and by then he'd be asleep, or at least pretending to be.

* * *

><p>Sanji's angry retort died on his tongue as the galley door slammed behind the green haired man. That wasn't quite the response he was expecting. Normally the Marimo stuck around to fight after the yelling started.<p>

Chopper still looked concerned and seemed to be debating going after the swordsman. The little doctor glanced at Luffy questioningly and the rubber man shook his head slightly; his gaze thoughtful and serious as he looked to the door that Zoro had just tried to slam off its hinges. The Strawhat captain could tell something was bothering his first mate but it wasn't something pills or bandages would fix.

The future Pirate King's gaze drifted to Sanji's own and lingered there for a long moment before the cook slumped in defeat and sighed. Luffy's grin returned at once and he continued his daily quest to finish the rest of the food on the table whether it belonged to him or not.

The blonde chef knew an order from his captain, even when he didn't hear one. Somehow he was supposed to fix the idiot marimo's hissy fit.

That meant he'd definitely have to ask the moron what his problem was at the marine base that morning, because it was too much of a coincidence to be unrelated to the more recent outburst. The cook suppressed the urge to sigh again. It was a question the green monster wasn't likely to want to answer, especially from him.

* * *

><p>The cook lit a cigarette as the rest of the crew began to slowly wander out of the dining area. He was going to need all the nicotine he could get if he was going to have a halfway civil conversation with the bane of his existence.<p>

Usopp started to gather the dishes, since it was his turn to wash them.

"Leave them." Sanji ordered. "You can take mosshead's turn tomorrow. He's on clean up tonight."

"But..." The sniper paled. "I mean, I can do them. Um...you don't even need to help. Wouldn't you like a night off?" He smiled winningly but it fell flat as the chain smoking cook merely gave him a hard look. "Right. Why don't I just...uh...go find Zoro..."

* * *

><p>Zoro wasn't sleeping when the long nosed man peered in, but he knew it looked like he was and that was usually enough to deter Usopp from bothering him.<p>

"Zoro..." The sniper whispered nervously. "Zoro." He tried a bit louder, before reaching out a shaking hand towards the swordsman's shoulder. He really hated to wake someone who was already feeling ill tempered and slept with three katanas.

The green haired man's eye cracked open before the dark haired man could reach him and Usopp snatched his hand back at once with a nervous laugh.

"Ah, Sanji said to tell you it's your turn to wash dishes tonight." The long nosed man said with forced pleasantry.

Zoro's eye narrowed. "No it isn't." He refuted flatly.

Usopp gulped. "Well...um...Sanji says it is. Apparently there was a mix up and my turn is supposed to be tomorrow." He tried to appear nonchalant but a cranky Zoro, glaring at him in the half darkened bunk room, was more than a little intimidating.

Finally the swordsman huffed and shoved himself to his feet to stomp over to the door and out onto the deck. Usopp watched him go with a nervous sense of relief. The first mate walked first to the base of the mast and stood there scowling for a moment. Usopp wondered if Zoro was considering locking himself back in the crow's nest again, but then the older man resolutely headed for the galley; with a look on his face that promised death and destruction to anyone stupid enough to speak to him.

The sniper let out a breath and slumped against the door frame with weak knees as the galley door slammed. The dark haired man couldn't figure out why Sanji would want Zoro around when he was in a mood like that. Maybe their cook had a death wish? It would certainly explain the constant smoking...and his tendency to pick fights with Zoro who was easily one of the deadliest people Usopp had ever seen. Still, his task was done and he hadn't been maimed. The longnosed man straightened his suspenders and then headed for his factory to make use of his extra free time for the evening; trying to push away a niggling concern about his two most volatile nakama. Sanji and Zoro were monsters. They couldn't hurt each other too badly...right?

* * *

><p>Sanji was already on his fourth cigarette when Zoro stomped through the door and began silently stacking the plates on the table so he could take them to the sink. The cook had expected complaints about his rearranging of the chore roster at the very least; or possibly even a direct confrontation but the green haired man seemed intent on ignoring the fact that he was there at all. While normally the blonde would have taken the silence as a blessing; he had a mission to complete.<p>

"So...you want to tell me what's going on in that head besides photosynthesis?" He drawled, leaning against the counter.

Zoro growled and looked at him for the first time since the swordsman had stormed into the room. "No." He bit out before turning his attention back to the plates.

Sanji sighed; so much for the easy way. "Oh...Alright...so when can we expect you to stop sulking and throwing tantrums like a freaking two year old?" He asked sarcastically. "Something's been off with you ever since this morning and I want to know what the crap is going on!"

"Leave it alone, Cook." The swordsman gritted out as he struggled to hold his temper.

"Leave what alone?!" Sanji shot back angrily. "That's the point, Marimo idiot!"

Zoro set the stack of dishes, which he had just picked up, back down hard enough to crack a couple of them. "It's none of your business, Pervy Cook!"

"You made it my business when you lost control this morning, in the middle of a fight!" The blonde snapped back.

"That was hardly a decent fight!" Zoro shot back defensively.

"And if it was?! Would you still have gotten distracted like that, Mossball?!"

Zoro opened his mouth to deny it but the lie caught in his throat and his jaw snapped shut again; his teeth grinding as he considered the exceedingly annoying fact that the cook was right. He had been distracted by his memories and the cook's teasing had caused his emotional control to waver. It was unacceptable but he couldn't honestly say it wouldn't have happened if the enemies had been more of a threat. He couldn't een say it wouldn't happen again in similar circumstances.

"I...don't know." He ground out painfully.

Sanji crossed his arms with a huff and settled back from the offensive stance he had unwittingly adopted; leaning against the counter once more, now that the conversation had taken a less combative turn.

"Then I need to know what set you off, so it doesn't happen again." The cook said seriously, though he couldn't resist smirking as he added to his statement. "At least not while we have other people to fight."

The swordsman glared but it lacked any real fight and he turned away after only a moment, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"This morning there was a kid..." Zoro began reluctantly. "I saw a kid and he reminded me of...some stuff that I hadn't thought about in a long time."

The curling eyebrow was raised expectantly. "And..?"

"And then something you said made things worse." The swordsman snapped peevishly. "As usual."

Sanji bit back the sharp reply that he wanted to make. Zoro was trying to distract him by making him angry. Who knew a marimo could be such a devious life form?

"What exactly did this kid remind you of that was enough to distract you from fifty marines?" He drawled, unable to keep the incredulous tone out of his voice.

Zoro didn't answer for a long moment; replaying the scene in his mind. "Me." He finally said vaguely. "The kid reminded me of me."

"How so? Did he have crappy plant life growing out of his head too?" The jibe tumbled out before the cook could stop it.

Zoro scowled but shook his head. "No." He sighed. Clearly the idiot chef wasn't going to stop digging and he was just prolonging the inevitable by being vague. "He was just a street kid. He stole some bread from a shop as I was passing by."

Sanji frowned. He hated to see anyone go hungry, but that didn't explain why the kid had reminded Zoro of himself. "Okay...what does that have to do with you? I thought you grew up in some kind of dojo before you misplaced your home island."

Zoro's eye narrowed with the same dark look he had given the cook that morning. "You want me to talk? Then you need to shut up."

Sanji blinked. There was that look again, like he had actually hurt the mosshead's feelings. 'And both times I was talking about him getting lost...' He realized. He didn't see what that had to do with some street urchin but he was willing to extend what little patience he possessed (for those of the male gender) in order to find out. He lit another cigarette and settled back to wait expectantly.

The silence stretched on for long moments until Zoro realized the cook was taking his words as a bargain. Sanji had shut up, now he was obligated to talk.

"I didn't move to the dojo until I was six." The swordsman began tiredly. "Before that...I was one of those kids that people try to pretend aren't there. I lived out of dumpsters and what I couldn't scrounge, I stole." He paused, clearly waiting for a snide comment or worse, pity.

Sanji offered him neither, merely nodding for him to continue. They all had troubled childhoods. It was no real shock to hear that the green haired man had as well.

Zoro relaxed just slightly and pressed on with his story. "Couple of older kids found me in an alley when I was a toddler. They kept me safe until I was old enough to be on my own. Pretty sure they named me too, because I don't remember a thing before them."

Sanji couldn't contain his comment. "What kind of kid gives someone a name like Roronoa Zoro?"

The swordsman glared. "Just Zoro." He gritted out as the cook's words brought the source of his surname back to the forefront of his mind and the old grief tightened in his chest. "I didn't have any other name until I was almost six."

"Oh." The blonde looked a bit sheepish but also curious. "So you picked that out for yourself?"

"I thought you were shutting up." The swordsman growled irritably.

Sanji took a drag of smoke to occupy his mouth and nodded; as close to an apology as he was going to offer.

Zoro considered stopping the story there. He saw a street kid and it reminded him of himself and then Sanji made a crack about the mother he never had. It was plausible. He could offer a half truth and say he chose his surname at random...but then he'd be denying that Roronoa Shen had ever had an impact on his life. He might as well be denying the man had existed at all. He couldn't dishonor the good man's memory like that.

"Not exactly. There was a man that took me in when I was five." He offered; hoping the barest truth would be enough to make the cook back off from the other issue he truly didn't want to go into. He didn't mention the head injury that had put him in the kind doctor's care to begin with. He didn't even say the man was a doctor. "His name was Roronoa Shen."

Sanji caught a hesitation in the narrative that said the swordsman was editing something out, and he still hadn't figured out what Zoro's lack of a proper sense of direction had to do with any of it. However, more pressing was the blank mask that came over the swordsman's face as he spoke of the man he had taken his name from. Before that shield had come up, the cook had read deep grief in the other man's green eye.

"So what happened to him? How did you end up at a dojo the next year if this guy had adopted you?" He asked instead of pushing for the information the green haired man was avoiding. he figured it was better to get the parts of the story that the stubborn Marimo was willing to share first, before he pressed the swordsman's patience too far and risked the generally silent man clamming up entirely.

Zoro's eye slid shut as the memories washed over him. "He died." He answered flatly. "Murdered in his own house by a two bit thug. The guy was mad because his brother bled out before Shen could save him." Anger bled into the words as he spoke.

"So he was a doctor?" Sanji surmised; wondering why that detail had been left out previously and fishing for something that might wipe that disturbingly stricken look off the scarred face. He seen the idiot swordsman's face look less pained while bleeding profusely from dozens of wounds. "Hmph...makes me wonder why you're so against hospitals."

The green eye flickered open in shock, as if Zoro had just realized he'd said more than he intended. "I was there." He found himself answering numbly, half his mind focused on the dark memory. "I walked into the surgery room and saw it happen...I tried to stop it, but I couldn't do a thing. The guy threw me across the room like a toy. Shen told me to run because the thug was going to kill me too. Then the guy broke his neck."

"What did you do?" The cook asked quietly.

Zoro snorted, shaking off the old memories with some effort. "I was six. I ran."

Sanji nodded. It wasn't anything to be ashamed of.

"Next time someone asked me my name I told them it was Roronoa Zoro and a few months later I found the dojo and started my training there." The green haired man finished his tale briskly, as if wanting to get it over with.

"What happened to the guy that killed your...uh...namesake?"

Zoro smiled darkly. "I ran into him before I met Luffy." He said in grim amusement. "First bounty I ever turned in."

Sanji raised an eyebrow; as aware as anyone from East Blue of Zoro's ruthless reputation from his days as a bounty hunter.

Zoro shrugged. "I gave him the choice to be taken in alive...but I'm still kinda glad he didn't take it." He admitted with a small amount of satisfaction.

The cook took a deep drag from his cigarette and waited. However it seemed the swordsman thought he had said enough, because Zoro stood and picked the stack of dirty dishes up to take to the sink.

Sanji exhaled his chosen poison and steeled himself for the negative reaction his next words were likely to bring out. "I appreciate you telling me all that." He said slowly but with more sincerity than he usually offered his rival. "But it doesn't explain why you blew up at me, when all I did was inform you for the hundredth time that you have no sense of direction."

Zoro froze in place. Sometimes he really wished the love cook was as stupid as he seemed to be when there were women around.

"So...since you've never reacted that way before...I have to assume that something relating to that story triggered it." He paused thoughtfully. "Or that I said something I don't usually say." He considered that option and tried to think of exactly what he had been shouting when the mosshead attacked him. "Or both..."

Zoro walked the dishes to the sink and dropped them in without much finesse. He said nothing as he started to wash them briskly, tossing the broken ones in the trash as he came to them.

Sanji took the stony silence to mean he was most likely on the right track. "Let's see...I think I told you that you were an idiot but we both already knew that. Then I tried to examine the logic that made you wander into a marine base across town when the ship was right there around the corner...but it certainly isn't the first time that's happened, so I doubt that's it."

Zoro scrubbed a spoon a bit too vigorously and it bent nearly in half in his hands. He hastily straightened it before the cook could see.

"Then I asked if..." Sanji replayed his own words in his mind. 'If he had some sort of brain damage that made him get lost all the time.'

Zoro's hands stilled as he waited. He couldn't think of anything to say that would stop the cook from figuring out what he'd been hiding, but he wasn't about to make it easy for the snarky bastard to find something new to taunt him with.

The blonde's thoughts were racing as he struggled to wrap his mind around the idea that was trying to present itself. He took a minute to decide how best to confirm his suspicion in a way that the swordsman might actually answer his question.

"So...that Doctor...how did you end up staying with him?" He said at last. It wasn't quite the question he wanted answered but he thought it might get him there without all the dishes getting broken.

Zoro let the plate he was holding fall back into the soapy water with a small splash. "I was his patient." He admitted with a huff. "He saved my life..."

Sanji paused and took another pull of warm smoke into his lungs while he decided on how best to push the conversation along. "Saved your life from what?"

Zoro scowled and his shoulders tensed. "I stole some clothes from a shop and the owner spotted me, got the marines chasing me...I ran out into the street and almost got run down by a cart."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Almost? Then how did you end up needing a doctor?"

The green haired man smirked without humor, his gaze fixed out the porthole to avoid looking at the chef. "The driver stopped the cart in time; but the horse tried to cave my head in."

Sanji's face paled a bit at the implications of that statement in light of his guess about what Zoro was trying to hide. "That must have hurt." He offered awkwardly.

Zoro shook his head. "Nah, not until later. I don't really remember much about the accident itself, just waking up in Doctor Shen's house. He told me I'd been there almost a week. Then my head hurt plenty; but mostly only when I tried to move."

The cook forced a chuckle. "Were you as difficult for him as you are for Chopper?" He asked knowingly, in an effort to lighten the mood a little and keep the swordsman talking.

The swordsman snorted. "I'd never known a trustworthy adult in my life before that point. What do you think?"

Sanji shook his head at that. "And he still kept you around once you healed up, huh?" He asked slowly.

Zoro tensed again and finally turned back around to regard the cook warily. He was being backed into a corner but he wouldn't lie, not about what Shen had done for him.

Sanji nodded thoughtfully, not waiting for an answer as the last pieces fell together in his mind. "That's odd. I mean, with your sparkling personality and all; I'm surprised he didn't try to find some family to take you in. Unless of course...maybe something didn't heal properly..."

The swordsman's jaw twitched at the insult, both to him and the long dead doctor. "That had nothing to do with why he let me stay." He blurted out sharply, before realizing his mistake.

Sanji pounced on the slip up. "What had nothing to do with it?" He asked with a smirk that said he knew he'd won this round.

Zoro glared back at him sourly; his expression saying that he knew it too. He huffed and crossed his arms across his chest. "There were...some problems after the accident." He admitted.

"Like you couldn't find your way out of a paper bag?" The blonde's words were both taunt and rescue in one.

"I'm not that bad!" The green haired man protested automatically before sighing and continuing in a resigned tone. "But yeah, it messed up my sense of direction...permanently." He admitted quietly.

The cook was actually a bit amazed he had gotten the swordsman to admit to the existence of that problem at all. Still, he frowned. "So...when you went off this morning..."

Zoro nodded and shrugged. "I was already thinking about Shen and the accident...because of the kid."

The cook nodded. That made sense. "And I asked if you had brain damage..."

The green haired man nodded, running a hand nervously through his cropped hair and feeling the old jagged scar beneath his fingers.

"...which you actually do." The blonde finished with a sigh of his own. "Crap."

Zoro glared, hoping the perverted cook wasn't going to try and apologize or something equally asinine.

Sanji ran a hand through his own hair in well feigned frustration. "So you've had this problem since you were five? Sheesh, you'd think by now you would have learned not to wander off on your own." He grumbled in mild annoyance.

The swordsman blinked and felt the anger he'd been preparing fizzle. "What?" He asked blankly.

Sanji snorted. "And why do you deny you have a problem? People might actually be willing to help you out...not me mind you. My assistance is reserved for ladies, but Usopp or Luffy...well, not Luffy. He's almost as bad as you are." The cook snorted.

Zoro's scowl returned. "I don't tell people, Target brow, because I don't want word getting around. Enemies tend to not take you seriously when they know all they have to do to get away from you is run around a freaking corner!"

The blonde's visible eye widened. "Really? It's that bad?"

Zoro blushed and his scowl deepened even further. "Yeah." He shrugged. "Observation haki helps with that now but before...well, it would have been bad if this were common knowledge."

The cook shook his head. "And you can't remember directions at all? How do you even walk around the ship?"

Zoro scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I manage. I can find what I can see. I'm okay was long as I don't take my eye off whatever landmark I'm using. I had Franky mark the doors so I can tell them apart. Why do you think they all have those little numbers beside them?"

"Franky knows?!" The cook blurted in shock. "Wait a minute, he said those were to help guests!"

"Yeah, because we have so many guests..." The swordsman shrugged and looked around for a moment before walking over to the liquor cabinet and pulling out a bottle of sake before glancing around again and moving to sit on the long bench.

Sanji watched the swordsman's actions with new insight. The quick look around could have been mistaken for a lazy survey of their surroundings but now the cook realized it was the Marimo's way of finding the landmarks he had been talking about. How could he have missed those hesitations for so long?

Zoro tugged the cork free with his teeth and took a long swallow before he answered.

"Franky just knows that I get turned around easily; but everyone knows that."

The cook snorted. "Now you admit it..." He grumbled. "And you're replacing that when we get to the next town."

The swordsman shrugged again. "No money. The witch has it all." He pointed out with the insufferable calm that Sanji was secretly relieved to see returning.

"Don't call Nami-swan a witch, Baka Marimo!" The cook shouted, furiously.

"What are you gonna do about it, Ero-cook!?" The swordsman grinned tauntingly.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Nami had to go in and break up the brawl that was in real danger of taking out a wall.<p>

"What is wrong with you two?! How many times do I have to tell you to take it outside!?" She screeched. "Do you have some kind of brain damage?!"

Both men froze in place. Zoro had two katanas locked against the heel of one black shoe; while the one in his teeth was blocking a kick from the other foot as the cook balanced on his hands. Sanji flipped easily back to his feet and cast a sharp glance at the swordsman to see how he would react to that comment. Zoro had attacked him for saying nearly the same thing just a few hours earlier. Brain damage or not, he wasn't about to let the moss covered blockhead so much as raise his voice to Nami-swan.

To the blonde's surprise, the first mate merely sheathed his katanas with a huff of annoyance and retrieved his sake bottle from the bench. Then the first mate took once last glance around the galley before heading straight for the door; a glance that could have passed for a roll of his single eye if the cook hadn't known better. The green haired man brushed past their flabbergasted navigator without a word.

* * *

><p>Zoro certainly wasn't about to admit it to the cook but he actually felt better after talking about Shen and his direction issues. It wasn't right that such a good man be forgotten; and the cook took the knowledge about his...injury in stride as well. The blonde hadn't taunted him anymore than usual after he told him everything, and more importantly the fight that had followed had put him in a pretty good mood. Now if he could just find a quiet place to nap...<p>

"Oi! Marimo!" The annoying cook's voice rang out across the deck. "Get back here! You still have to finish the dishes!"

Zoro smirked and started walking without paying much attention to his path. He somehow ended up in the energy room and flopped down beside the stored barrels of cola with his still half full bottle and a grin on his face.

Sometimes it was actually a good idea to get lost for a while.

* * *

><p>The End For Now!<p>

Author's Notes: Okay, well I think I caught all the places I edited the first time...hopefully. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm a bit concerned about Sanji and Zoro being out of character but I tried my best to keep them as much in character as possible. Getting those two to have a meaningful conversation without either of them being gravely injured is really hard; but Sanji had Captain's Orders and concern about his ladies to drive him to hold his feet in check...and Zoro was having an off day from the beginning, otherwise the story would have had no plot (what little there was). Anyway, please review and let me know what you think of it! I have several other ideas for this set and more suggestions or plot bunnies are always welcome. Reviews are where I get many of my ideas for fics. *hint hint* Hehehe. 'Til next time.


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